Death of 5 COVID-19 positive patients at Thane hospital not due to oxygen supply issue: Committee

Thane, May 01: A committee appointed to probe the death of five COVID-19 patients in a single day earlier this week at a private hospital in Maharashtra's Thane city, has concluded that they did not die due to shortage of oxygen, the authorities said on Saturday.

The relatives of the five deceased patients and others had alleged that they died at Vedant Hospital in Vartak Nagar on April 26 due to lack of oxygen supply at the facility.

Following their death, a committee headed by Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) commissioner Dr Pankaj Ashiya was appointed to conduct a detailed probe, which submitted a report to District Collector Rajesh Narvekar on Friday, an official statement said.

As per the committee findings, the deaths did not occur due to shortage of oxygen supply, it said. The committee examined relevant documents related to the diagnosis of patients and their treatment, and recorded the statements of the relatives of the deceased, doctors and nurses and also the personnel managing the oxygen supply and other patients getting treated inside the ICU, it added.

The committee concluded that the patients died of pneumonia and severity of COVID-19 infection and not due to any other factor, the statement said.