12 including doctor die due to oxygen shortage in Delhi's Batra hospital

New Delhi, May 01: Twelve persons, including a doctor, died at Batra Hospital on Saturday after the facility ran out of medical oxygen - for the second time in the space of a week - at 12.45 pm.

"We ran out of oxygen at 12.45 pm. Supply came at 1.30. We were out of oxygen for 1 hour and 20 mins," the hospital told the Delhi high court.

"We hope no lives were lost," the court responded, to which the hospital said: "We have... including one of our own... one doctor."

This is not the first time that Batra Hospital has run out of medical oxygen. On April 24 the hospital received a last-minute re-supply that arrived minutes after its supply ran out.

Hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs have been grappling with oxygen shortage. Last week, several hospitals had sent out SOS messages about depleting oxygen supplies at their medical facilities and some hospitals had even lost patients due to the crisis situation.

The Delhi government has maintained that the city is not getting its allocated quantity of the life-saving gas.

India has been hit by a devastating wave of Covid infections - daily new cases crossed the four-lakh mark this morning for a record global high. The surge in cases has left hospitals overworked, doctors traumatised, and resources like beds, medicines and oxygen in perilously short supply.