Haryana CM announces panel to probe negligence by hospitals in treating COVID patients

Addressing the Haryana state assembly, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said no death was recorded in the state due to a lack of oxygen supply. However, after an intense dispute raised by the opposition on the matter on Monday, the Chief Minister announced the formation of a panel to “probe the negligence, if any, in such cases of deaths of COVID-19 patients in state’s hospitals”, news agency PTI reported.

CM Khattar assured the assembly of a detailed probe in the matter; he re-iterated that strict action will be taken against such hospitals that are found negligent. BJP’s Khattar’s statement comes after the opposition parties strongly opposed the CM’s no oxygen death remark in the parliament, and Congress MLA’s raised the issue in the Zero hour of the assembly. They alleged that several media reports have claimed that many people lost their lives in the state at the peak of the second COVID wave due to oxygen shortage. 

He further said that enough oxygen supply was maintained in the state despite challenges faced by the government in procuring oxygen during the peak of the COVID-19 second wave.

“During the second wave, oxygen was delivered to all 3,000 to 4000 hospitals in Haryana, and it was even provided from nearby cities as needed,” he said. He further informed, the House that “some anomalies had been reported in various hospitals in the Hisar, Rewari, and Gurugram districts and that a magisterial probe had been initiated for all such complaints received from these three districts' hospitals.”

Bhupinder Hooda blames CM Khattar for misleading people 

While slamming CM Khattar, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed, "The leader of the House has misled the House of Representatives. He claims that no one has died as a result of a shortage of oxygen." He said that deaths in hospitals in Gurgaon, Rewari, and Hisar had occurred due to an oxygen shortage, which had been widely publicised in the media.

On Congress’s outrage, the CM gave a detailed response in the assembly. Earlier debating on the issue, Hooda demanded that the chief minister retract his Friday statement in the assembly that no death had occurred owing to a lack of oxygen, and that a high-level panel be formed to determine how many people died as a result of this.

In response to Congress's remark, Manohar Lal Khattar asserted that “Despite the challenges, the government had given ample oxygen supply in the state during the second Covid wave's peak.” Even as the opposition continued to criticise the BJP government, Khattar promised that a committee would be constituted to investigate any irregularities. Further clarifying the matter, he read out official figures; CM Khattar informed the House that over 13,000 people lost their lives in hospitals across the state due to COVID-19. Around 9,500 of them were Haryana residents, while the remaining 3,500 hailing from other states.

Image Credit: PTI
With PTI Inputs