Oxygen crisis: Karnataka High Court had ordered Rs 5 lakh each for 13 such deaths

For the remaining 11 families, the HC has decided to wait for the report of the official inquiry commission.

The fact-finding team appointed by the HC, headed by a retired Judge, had reported that 24 people had died at the Chamarajanagar district hospital on May 2-3 due to oxygen shortage.

But the state government told the court that the families of three persons who died between 10.30 pm on May 2 and 2.20 am on May 3, when there was absolutely no oxygen, would be paid Rs 5 lakh each as compensation, while the families of 10 persons who died on May 3, between 2.21 am and 9 am, would be paid Rs 4 lakh each, as oxygen supply had been restored during that time. The families of the remaining 11, who also died between May 2 and May 3, would get Rs 2 lakh each, it said.

But the HC directed the state to pay Rs 5 lakh each to 13 families, saying that all these deaths were due to oxygen shortage.

“There is a report submitted by the commission headed by Hon’ble Shri Justice A N Venugopala Gowda, a retired judge of this court, which came to the conclusion based on the material on record that from 10.30 pm on 2nd May, 2021, till about 2 am on 3rd May, 2021, there was no oxygen supply available in Chamarajanagar District Hospital which led to the death of 24 patients,” the HC said in its July 6 order.

“An analysis of the report… shows that gradually from 1st May, 2021, the supply of oxygen to Chamarajanagar District Hospital went on reducing and in fact, the entire stock of oxygen got exhausted at 10.30 pm on 2nd May, 2021,” the division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka said.

“It appears that about 12.30 a.m on 3rd May, 2021, four oxygen cylinders containing a quantity of 28,000 litres were received, but the entire quantity got exhausted within 20 minutes. It appears from the record that 10 persons who died between 2.21 a.m and 9 a.m on 3rd May, were admitted to the said hospital before 10.30 p.m on 2nd May, 2021 and all of them were put on oxygen as they needed the same,” said the court.

“We are, therefore, of the view that there cannot be a distinction between those who died between 10.30 pm on 2nd May, 2021 and 2.20 am on 3rd May, 2021 and those who died between 2.21 am to 9 am on 3rd May, 2021. Such distinction, if made, will invite the vice of arbitrariness,” the HC said.

According to a medical expert associated with the official inquiry commission, the absence of post-mortem reports in Covid-19 deaths makes it difficult to establish whether the deaths occurred due to oxygen shortage.

“Basically, to give death certificates, we do not do post-mortems in Covid-related deaths. Secondly, there is no clear criterion to classify the deaths as oxygen-insufficient or oxygen-deficient deaths. The inquiry is on but we need post-mortem findings to know if the patient died due to insufficient oxygen or not,” said the health official.

According to a professor of forensic medicine associated with death audits in Bengaluru, one way to establish if a death occurred due to oxygen shortage is to look at oxygen saturation readings and blood oxygen studies that may have been recorded prior to the death. “Some doctors mention hypoxia in the death reports, and this is a sign of oxygen shortage deaths, but no one will put it down as an oxygen shortage death,” the professor said.

On Wednesday, health officials and members of the Karnataka Covid-19 task force declined to comment on the Union Health Ministry’s statement of “no deaths due to lack of oxygen” being specifically reported.