No oxygen drill-death link in Agra hospital: Panel

An panel formed to look into causes of 16 deaths that took place in a private hospital in Agra before and after April 26, when a “mock drill” was conducted, has found the deaths to be unrelated to oxygen shortage, thus relieving the owner of attracting any grave charges.

The committee said adequate oxygen was available in the Paras Hospital on April 25 and 26, and that the oxygen flow to no patient was disrupted, unlike what the kin of some patients alleged after a contentious video came to light.

District magistrate Prabhu N Singh said charges slapped against the owner of the hospital, Arinjay Jain, for forcing patients to be discharged and creating panic, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Epidemics Act, remain and that his hospital licence may be cancelled.


The hospital was sealed soon after the video came to light and its licence was suspended. The panel, comprising four doctors from the state-run SN Medical College including two heads of departments, said out of the 16 deaths that took place around the date of the said exercise and those whose relatives had submitted complaints, 14 patients were suffering from some comorbidity while inflammatory markers of the remaining two were very high.