Five dead in Pakistan COVID-19 hospital due to oxygen deficiency; staff suspended

In an unsettling incident in Pakistan's COVID-19 hospital, five patients being treated for the novel coronavirus lost their lives due to carelessness of the hospital staff.

Five patients from a Peshawar's government-run hospital died due to a massive delay in sourcing oxygen. This chronic oxygen deficiency"went unnoticed, unsupervised and unchecked" by the hospital staff, apreliminary report stated.

The incident happened as the hospital staff had no installed any backup oxygen supply in the area for the patients.

"The hospital was low on oxygen from around 8 pm in the evening, how come they couldn't manage to solve the issue until after 12pm," questionedTaimur Saleem Jhagra, a provincial health minister.

"Some of the staff were off, some were absent and there weren't any alternate arrangements, even the emergency squad was not available," he further accused.

The hospital spokesmanFarhad Khan also reported that the oxygen disruption has affected nearly 200 people in the hospital, of which 100 were patients being treated for COVID-19.

An investigation has been opened into the matter to find out why was the hospital staff's careless not investigated in the first place. As of now, seven staff members of the hospital have been suspended with immediate effect.

A second detailed investigation will be conducted in the next five days.

This incident took place at a time when the South Asian country is struggling to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus as the country crossed the mark of 400,000 cases and 8,000 deaths since February. The COVID-19 hospitals are also raising alarms over the full capacity of the Intensive Care Units (ICUs).