Oxygen shortage leaves six Covid patients dead in Pakistan

At least six Covid-19 patients died after “criminal negligence” resulted in a delayed supply of oxygen to a hospital in northwest Pakistan, officials said Sunday, as the country battles a second wave of the epidemic.

More than 200 patients — including nearly 100 with coronavirus — were left for hours with limited supplies of oxygen at a government-run hospital in Peshawar.

“The sad incident happened due to lack of central oxygen supply in the hospital,” provincial health minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra told a press conference, confirming the deaths.

Hospital spokesman Farhad Khan told AFP a disruption in oxygen supplies affected some 200 people, “including 96 Covid-19 patients”.

He blamed a private supplier, saying the Rawalpindi-based company had “failed to meet the growing demand”.

Pakistan has reported more than 400,000 cases of coronavirus — including over 8,000 deaths — since the virus arrived in late February.

Intensive care units in hospitals across the country are now almost full, with provincial governments struggling to deal with the soaring caseload.