Siddaramaiah blames govt for ICU deaths in Ktaka hospital

Bengaluru, Sep 15

As it ruled out power failure as the cause of two deaths in the ICU ward of the Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), the Karnataka government Thursday assured that it will submit a report after investigating the matter.

Two patients in ICU ward had died on Wednesday during a power cut at the VIMS Hospital in Bellary. While the hospital and district officials attributed the deaths to medical reasons, the patients' kin and opposition parties allege that the power cut lasting nearly three hours caused the deaths.

The matter was raised in the Assembly by the Leader of Opposition, Siddaramaiah who attributed the patients' deaths to government's negligence. "The generator was not functioning during the power cut between 8 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. The ICU patients died because there was no power supply nor generator. As a result the ventilator was not working," he said while squarely blaming the district administration and state government.

However, Ballari district minister B. Sriramulu, stating that the hospital has a combined UPS and generator power backup of 3 hours, declared that the ICU deaths were not due to power failure.

"One person, Moula Hussain, 35, with kidney problems was admitted to the ICU on September 11 at 9.30 a.m. with kidney and other chronic issues but he died on September 14. Chittemma, 30, was admitted for snake bite treatment, but she could not be saved as the poison had spread in her body. Both these deaths were not due to power failure," Sriramulu said. He pointed out that the medical superintendent's report also concluded likewise.

Siddaramaiah demanded an inquiry into the deaths and that compensation be paid to the kin of the victims.