Panaji, May 16: The oxygen crisis in Goa continued to wreak havoc after eight more COVID-19 patients died at Goa Medical College (GMC) on Saturday due to a lack of liquid medical oxygen (LMO). Reports inform that the deaths took place between 2 am and 6 am on Friday. According to a report by TOI, the total death toll since earlier this week due to lack of oxygen at the premier government hospital now stands at 83 during the past 5 days.

However, when the hospital authorities were questioned, the doctors didn’t attribute the deaths to the oxygen crisis but stated that most of the patients died due to COVID-19 pneumonia. But nurses and relatives of patients, and volunteers confirmed that the dips in oxygen were noticed throughout the night. Oxygen Crisis: Supreme Court Forms Task Force To Look Into Medical Oxygen Distribution for States, Union Territories.

The TOI report stated that a record of dips in the central oxygen pipeline maintained by the hospital authorities showed that 13 wards reported a drop in oxygen supply. The report further added that the longest drop being recorded in ward 143 of the Goa Medical College for a duration of 90 minutes. A medical staff said that the availability of oxygen cylinders helped prevent a higher number of casualties.

In the wake of the incident, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the dip in oxygen supply could not be correlated with deaths. However, a few days back, it was Rane who said as many as 26 patients had died due to oxygen shortage at GMC.

On Saturday, Goa reported 1,957 fresh COVID-19 cases, 3,512 recoveries against while 58 patients died, a health department official said. Goa's overall caseload now stands at 1,34,542 while the death toll reached 2,056, he said.

A total of 3,512 patients recovered during the day, taking the number of recoveries in Goa so far to 1,01,712, the official said, adding the coastal state is now left with 30,774 active cases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 16, 2021 11:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).