The Hindu : VIPs descend on hospital

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

VIPs descend on hospital

By Our Staff Reporter

KURNOOL April 22. As a steady stream of VIPs and officials made a beeline to the Acute Medical Care (AMC) unit where four deaths occurred in a span of one hour yesterday, the doctors in charge of the unit struggled hard to convince the visitors that there was no system failure and the deaths were not due to short-supply of oxygen.

The Ministers -- B.V. Mohan Reddy and K.E. Prabhakar -- accompanied by the Collector, G. Sai Prasad, who were the early visitors, went round the ward talking to the patients and their attendants. Later, they inspected the bulk oxygen station downstairs and inquired the people manning it.

The death of four patients, allegedly due to short-supply of oxygen, created a controversy yesterday. CPI and the CPI(M) supporters staged a dharna and gheraoed the Superintendent, K. Ramachandra. They alleged that the deaths had occurred due to shortage of oxygen and there was negligence on the part of staff in restoring the oxygen supply.

On information about the deaths, the Director of Medical Education, G. Srinath, visited the hospital around midnight and was learnt to have given clean chit to the AMC staff. In his report, he was believed to have stated that there was no system failure and the deaths were not immediately related to short-supply of oxygen.

Meanwhile, the Zilla Parishad CEO, Sasibhushan Kumar, enquired into the incident today and talked to people relating to the ward for over four hours. He inspected the bulk cylinder room and grilled the staff manning it. Dr. Bhavani Prasad, in charge of the AMC unit, told the inquiry officer that there was no failure of oxygen.

To support his version, Dr. Prasad said had the oxygen shortage been the reason for the deaths, the first patient to die should have been Farida Bi, 25, who was on ventilator for the past 48 hours. She was receiving treatment for poisoning.

He told the inquiry officer that the patient, who was on life support system, was still alive. He said the risk of AMC unit had increased as all critical cases were admitted to the unit because of better infrastructure. At the moment, a neurosurgery case and a paediatric case were also being treated in the ward.

The controversy jolted the staff of AMC which came into being recently at a cost of Rs. 50 lakhs. The Collector, who was particular about the development of emergency medicine made available the required amounts. The unit was scheduled to be inaugurated formally by the Health Minister, Kodela Sivaprasad, on April 23. Uncertainty prevailed over the Minister's programme because of the controversy.

The DCC president, Kotla Suryaprakasa Reddy, the Congress leaders, Rambhupal Choudary, Sudhakar Babu and others visted the ward and talked to the staff. They questioned the hospital superintendent over the shortage of oxygen cylinders.

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