The Uttar Pradesh Health Department has ordered a probe after a video surfaced purportedly showing the private hospital owner admitting that he snapped the oxygen supply of critical patients, both in Covid and non-Covid wards an experiment to know who all are going to survive.
In the video tweeted by Livehindustan, the owner of Paras Hospital Dr Arinjay Jain is heard telling some people that the oxygen supply was cut for five minutes as part of a "mock drill". Twenty-two people may not have made it out alive on that day, Livehindustan reported.
“I decided to conduct an experiment/mock drill as we were facing an acute shortage of oxygen as people were not ready to discharge their patients despite multiple requests. At 7 am on April 27, we snapped the oxygen supply for five minutes. Soon, 22 patients’ bodies turned blue and they started gasping for breath so we came to know that they won’t survive in case there is no oxygen. Then, we asked family members of the remaining 74 patients to arrange their own oxygen cylinders”, Arinjay Jain, owner of Paras Hospital on NH 2 can be heard saying in the purported video.
In a statement to the media, Agra District Magistrate Prabhu N Singh claimed there was no death due to lack of oxygen on that day the alleged video was recorded. However, he said a probe would be conducted.
"We'll look into the video surfaced about these deaths. There were 22 critical patients admitted in the hospital but have no details of their death," Singh said.
Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condemned the incident, hitting out at the ruling BJP. "There is a severe shortage of both oxygen and humanity under the BJP rule," he said in a Hindi tweet, calling for swift action against those responsible for the "dangerous crime". He also offered his condolences to the families of those who died allegedly due to the oxygen shortage.
