Written by: Ashi Chouksey (Intern)
Edited by: Anubhav Yadav (Content Head & Developer)
After the death of patients due to shortage of Oxygen in Chamarajanagar District Hospital, the Karnataka High Court issued a notice to the state government seeking a response on paying compensation to the families of patients who died of oxygen shortage at Chamarajanagar Hospital. The Covid Monitoring Committee of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) recommended paying compensation.
A division bench consisting of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Arvind Kumar said that the state government will have to take a stand on the issue of compensating families of the victims. The High Court took into record the report of the committee of Karnataka State Legal Services Authority constituted to monitor covid-19 issues.
The state government had to answer to issues raised by the report:
First issue raised is how will the state government compensate the families of the patients who died at Chamarajanagar due to failure of the state in providing sufficient oxygen?
Second issue raised is for consideration of lapses of responsibility on individual officers.
According to the report submitted to the High Court, 24 patients died at the Covid designated hospital in Chamarajanagar due to lack of oxygen. It was also stated in the report that the CCTV footage found shows that the patients were not given proper assistance by the doctors. The report also highlighted that 40 oxygen cylinders were made available in Mysore at midnight which were not transported immediately as the trucks waited a few more hours to load another 30 cylinders. Had the trucks not waited to load 30 more cylinders and reached Chamarajanagar hospital by 2 a.m., the lives could have been saved.
The report concluded by stating that the failure of the district administration and the hospital authorities, including the dean of CIMS, is apparent. A detailed probe alone can unearth the act of omissions and commissions of the concerned individuals for fixing the responsibility.