Medical Attendants on Friday said four patients died inside Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours, due to heat as a result of the breakdown of an air-conditioning system in the hospital.
But the authorities described the deaths as routine.
The deaths took place at Kanpur’s Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial (GSVM) Medical College hospital.
“We have two air-conditioning compressors installed here. They developed some fault and that was fixed accordingly but it once again suffered a short circuit,” Navneet Kumar, principal of GSVM medical college hospital told media.
“The number of deaths in no way has exceeded to the average and we are trying to fix the problem. Even the agencies that have been ordered to fix the AC are working,” he said.
Of the four deaths that have taken place, the hospital authorities said two died of cardiac arrest, while the other two died due to chronic illness.
However, the attendants accompanying the patients squarely blamed the deaths on the break down of the air-conditioning system.
“The air-conditioners don’t work here properly,” an attendant told media. “We had even sought permission to install a fan on our own but the administration did not allow us.”
Television images showed attendants using hand fans inside ICU for the relief of their patients admitted in the hospital.
Local media reported district magistrate Kanpur Surendra Singh has ordered probe into the matter and directed officials to immediately install two air-conditioners temporarily until the main one is repaired.
India’s spending on health as share of GDP compared to its peers is low despite significantly higher disease burden.
The Indian government’s new national health policy aims to double the government spending – from the existing 1.15 percent of the GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2025.
