Eighteen patients of Chennai’s MIOT hospital who were on ventilator support died over the last three days, Tamil Nadu’s health secretary confirmed on Friday. However, he denied that power failure affected ventilators, thereby causing the deaths.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said that 18 patients had died, but maintained that the reason behind the deaths is unclear.
MIOT Hospital was treating 575 patients when the floods started; 75 critical patients were on ventilator support.
If they had died due to pallegeower failure affecting oxygen cylinders, the other 57 patients too would have died.J Radhakrishnan, Health Secretary, Tamil Nadu
The bodies of the deceased have been moved to mortuaries in nearby hospitals.
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