Days after Jalandhar hospital deaths, Punjab govt to hire service providers to manage oxygen plants
The department has already floated tenders for this, proposing a maintenance contract for three years, extendable by an additional two years, for 38 PSA plants and 33 MGPS units installed in government hospitals and medical colleges.
Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh said the decision of hiring service providers has been taken to avoid Jalandhar hospital-like incidents in future. 'The service providers will ensure complete repair and maintenance of these units on regular basis besides maintaining complete record of repair, ensuring any sort of replacement, preventive maintenance on quarterly basis and calibration of machines,' the minister said.
Dr Balbir added that the service provider shall ensure the availability of information, education & communication (IEC) standard operating procedure, checklist and log book related to operation, maintenance and safety of PSA and MGPS including manifold.
'Under this, the services engineers will be provided for rectification of complaints, besides ensuring regular testing and quality check,' he said.
The minister added that the maintenance cost of PSA plants, installed during Covid under PM Care scheme, is very high and it is not financially feasible for its maintenance at hospital level. 'Due to the high maintenance cost of PSA plants, which produce medical-grade oxygen on the hospital premises, the department will ensure that LMO tanks and MGPS plants are fully operational in the government health facilities,' he said.
On July 27, three patients, including a 15-year-old snake-bite victim, a 32-year-old drug overdose patient and a 30-year-old lung disease patient, died between 7.15 pm and 7.50 pm due to insufficient oxygen supply. Acting on the report of a probe team that pointed to gross negligence, the health department had suspended medical superintendent Dr Raj Kumar, senior medical officer Dr Surjit Singh and consultant anaesthesiologist Dr Sunakshi, while the services of Dr Shaminder Singh, the house surgeon, and technician Narinder Singh were terminated with immediate effect.
The probe team found that instead of a technician overseeing the plant, a contractual ward attendant — a non-technical employee — was on duty when a malfunction in the plant caused the disruption of supply. He was ill-equipped to deal with the exigency, leading to the death of the three critically ill patients in the trauma centre.
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