The inquiry report on the ‘mock drill’ in a hospital in Agra, that allegedly left 22 patients dead, has given a clean chit to the director of the hospital.
On June 7, a couple of videos had gone viral on social media in which Arinjya Jain, the director of Paras Hospital was heard speaking about a ‘mock drill’ that involved cutting off oxygen supply in the hospital. This according to him was done to see who could be saved. The hospital was running out of oxygen supply and the administration was asking relatives to take away their patients.
A four-member ‘death audit committee’ constituted to inquire into the matter, submitted its report on Friday evening, which quoted Jain’s contention that the videos were ‘misleading’, there was no mock drill in the hospital and that there was no evidence to prove the same. “If it (the mock drill) was true then, 22 patients would have died around 7 am on 26/04/2021 which did not happen”.
The report further quotes Jain as saying, “There was enough oxygen in the hospital but there was a possibility of a future crisis…The assessment of the oxygen (requirement) was the mock drill. We monitored indications of hypoxia and oxygen saturation level and used the winning process so that we could work optimally even with limited supply. Every patient was monitored on the bedside after which it became clear that of the serious patients, 22 were extremely serious”.
The inquiry committee focussed its death audit on 16 patients- both from Agra and elsewhere. There were 10 individual complaints and three complaints filed by social organisations against the hospital to the administration on the basis of which the committee was constituted.
The committee report did not include statements by any patients or relatives of patients.
Instead, it underscored the hospital’s determination to somehow arrange oxygen so that lives could be saved. “Take money, take vehicle, get it from Bhopal-Vopal…how much money do you want, how do we save 96 lives…take the rate of gold get a tanker of oxygen from wherever” the report quotes the director from one of the videos.
Jain also told the inquiry committee that all the words in the videos were not his and that the video had been manipulated and edited, and released in a manner that would make it appear that he was at fault.
The committee has, however, found the hospital guilty of asking relatives to take their patients elsewhere— a crime under the Epidemics Act—and asked the police to take further action in the matter. The hospital has also been sealed and its license revoked. Depending on the response of the hospital administration, further action shall be initiated.
The death audit has revealed that nine patients died of respiratory failure. Two had acute kidney injury, two had post-Covid pneumonia. One had pancreatitis which resulted in shock, while another went into shock because of Hepatitis C. One patient had acute respiratory distress due to COVID-19. Except for one patient, all had co-morbidities.
Meanwhile, the DM of Agra, Prabhu N Singh, has refused to comment on the issue. He said, “The report makes the matter clear. There is nothing for me to say”.
When the matter had come to light on June 7, the DM had said, “There is no truth to the rumour that 22 patients died. Paras Hospital has a big ICU. On the 26th, four patients died and on the 27th three died”. This is contrary to the findings of the committee.
Ashok Chawla, an Agra resident who lost two family members in the hospital said, “We will fight for our loved ones till our last breath. The matter should be investigated by the CBI”.
