Oxygen Leak At Hospital In Goa Day After 26 Patients Die At Goa Medical College, Health Minister Seeks Court Probe

A major disaster was averted at the South Goa district hospital, which has around 500 Covid-19 patients admitted, after a tanker carrying liquid oxygen leaked on May 11 afternoon. This comes after 26 Covid-19 patients died at the state-run Goa Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) in the early hours on May 11. Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane sought an investigation by the High Court to find out the exact cause. He said these fatalities occurred between 2 am & 6 am "which is a fact", but remained evasive about the cause. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant visited the Goa Medical College and Hospital. Sawant said the gap between the "availability of medical oxygen and its supply to Covid-19 wards in the GMCH might have caused some issues for the patients" even as he stressed that there is no scarcity of oxygen supply in the state. Goa's Covid-19 tally stood at 1,21,650 as of May 10, while 50 deaths had taken the total number of deaths to 1,729. Among the top five states in terms of high case positivity rate are Goa (49.6%), Puducherry (42.8%), West Bengal (34.4%), Haryana (34.3%) & Karnataka (32.4%).