• Source:JND
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A sudden drop in oxygen supply at a trauma ward of the Civil Hospital in Jaladhar reportedly claimed three lives on Sunday. The accident took place around 8 pm last night when a technical fault occurred during an oxygen supply changeover. The incident prompted an inquiry as Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh visited the hospital following the incident. 

Himanshu Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, said that an inquiry committee has been constituted.

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He said, "The Civil Surgeon informed that three deaths have occurred here. An investigation committee has been formed. The exact cause will be known from the committee's report. We are trying to determine the actual cause and ensure such an incident does not happen again. If the deaths occurred due to someone's fault, action will be taken against them."

Balbir Singh said, "These patients were in the ICU and in a critical situation... The oxygen supply was briefly cut off, but it was switched back on immediately... Oxygen supply is complete. There was just a brief pressure drop... Maybe for 1-2 minutes... This incident happened around 8 pm... The deaths did not happen at once; they happened one after the other, within 10-15 minutes of each other... One had consolidation in the lungs, the other was a patient of multiple organ failure, and the third was a drug addict..."

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As per Civil Surgeon and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Vinay Kumar, a brief technical fault led to the oxygen supply reduction. He further said, "There was a technical fault due to which the oxygen supply reduced a bit. Backup cylinders were started immediately. The technical fault was also rectified immediately... All this happened within five to ten minutes... The three patients who died were in a serious condition, and their deaths occurred due to different reasons after this matter…”