Jodhpur: Doctor & 2 nurses removed from duty as ventilator failure kills cancer patient

Jodhpur: In another case of administration failure, a cancer patient died due to the disruption in the supply of oxygen caused by a power shutdown at MDM Hospital in Rajasthan's Jodhpur. As a result, a doctor and two nurses of the hospital have been removed from duty on Saturday due to the tragedy at the trauma centre of the government-run facility. 

The patient Gopal Bhati admitted for cancer died in the early hours on Friday after his oxygen supply was disrupted due to the ventilator dysfunction caused by the power cut. Unfortunately, the administration also failed to engage a generator for power supply. 

Hospital superintendent Vikas Rajpurohit said that the doctor and the nurses have been put on APO (awaiting posting order). Action was taken against them based on the preliminary report of the inquiry committee constituted by the hospital administration. 

The patient's family members alleged that the on-duty doctor was not present at the centre and the male nurse was unable to handle the situation. "Had they swung into action and resumed the supply of oxygen by making an alternative arrangement, the patient could have been saved," one of the members said. 

Notably, Additional District Magistrate Sanjay Basu will conduct a parallel administrative inquiry on orders of the divisional commissioner. He has been ordered to submit a report by Monday. 

Earlier today on Saturday, Rajasthan Medical and Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar reached the hospital and held a meeting.

He enquired about the incident from the hospital superintendent and directed him to take strict action against those responsible for it. The Minister also directed the administration to take action against the ventilator supplier for the failure of its power backup system.