The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday held that death of coronavirus patients due to shortages of oxygen at hospitals was a “criminal act” an...
The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday held that death of coronavirus patients due to shortages of oxygen at hospitals was a “criminal act” and “not less than a genocide” Live Law reported.
A bench of Justices Ajit Kumar and Siddhartha Varma was hearing a suo motu case on handling of the pandemic in Uttar Pradesh and made the observations based on news reports and social media posts about death of Covid-19 patients in Lucknow and Meerut. The court ordered an inquiry into the incidents and asked the district authorities to submit a report within 48 hours.
The court took cognisance of an incident where five patients had died in the Intensive Care Unit of a trauma centre of Medical College in Meerut due to lack of oxygen supply, Bar and Bench reported. “Similarly, news were also being viralled that one Sun Hospital, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow and another private hospital at Meerut had taken their hands off the admitted Covid patients only for the reason that oxygen supply was not made even after demand,” the court observed.
The bench referred to videos related to the incident which went viral on social media and noted that the situation was contrary to the state government’s claim that there was sufficient supply of oxygen. The order added...
