Oxygen tragedy in Tirupati Ruia hospital: Supply agency's negligence identified, police plaint lodged

Tirupati: After two and a half months of the oxygen tragedy incident that took place at Ruia hospital, the Superintendent Dr T Bharathi has filed a complaint at Alipiri police pointing out the negligence of the oxygen supplying agency was the reason behind the death of patients.

She had given a written complaint to the police on Friday saying that Sri Bharat Pharma and medical oxygen distributors of Kurnool had not responded to their alerts in this regard.

Dr Bharathi made it clear that 23 Covid-19 patients were expired due to non-availability of oxygen on May 10 night in medical wards of the hospital.

During the preliminary enquiry conducted by the District Collector it was noticed that the oxygen supply agency had delayed in providing liquid medical oxygen from Tamil Nadu on time despite an alert being raised to it.

It was said that the agency is bound to maintain the emergency backup manifold system but the cylinders were put in place at 7.30 pm by hospital authority and the alarm system to provide alert in case of drop in pressure is also not functional.

Because of these lapses, the Superintendent asked the police authorities to file an FIR against the supply agency. Alipiri CI Devendra Kumar told The Hans India that they have registered the complaint and are enquiring about it.