Anger in Egypt after death of coronavirus patients due to 'oxygen shortage'

CAIRO – 3 January 2021: Egyptians’ anger on social media mounted after all coronavirus patients died in intensive care units (ICUs) due to a shortage of oxygen at the Husseiniya Central Hospital in Sharqia governorate on Sunday.

 

 

With hashtag #مستشفي_الحسينيه, social media users on twitters and Facebook published photos and videos for the dead patients, including a young man and an elderly man. Photos of a female doctor panicked when the medical personnel failed to rescue the patients.

 

Another heartbreaking Scene,
An Egyptian physician collapsed after all COVID-19 patients in the ICU had died due to lack of Oxygen that the PPE she's wearing aren't enough for the frontline health workers.#COVID19 #Egypt #مستشفى_الحسينيه #CovidVaccine #عزل_الحسينية pic.twitter.com/wxt17VRw2t

— Ahmed Shalaby (@AhmedShalaby51) January 3, 2021

 

 

Everyone is scared in Egypt#مستشفي_الحسينيه pic.twitter.com/2kjQw731pB

— JR,Amin ✪ (@medoali_14) January 3, 2021

 

Governor of Sharqia Mamdouh Ghorab stated that only four patients died due to chronic diseases not the shortage of oxygen. “Oxygen is available in the Husseiniya Hospital,” he said. However, social media users said that the number of dead patients is seven. 

 

“Only four cases were on ventilators. The death was natural as a result of the deterioration of their condition because of the infection with the Coronavirus and their chronic diseases,” he said in a statement.

 

Meanwhile, he referred the security guards who were in charge of securing the hospital for investigation because they had allowed other individuals to enter the isolation care unit and photograph patients.

 

The Prosecution of the Husseiniya Center summoned the director of the Husseiniya Central Hospital and a number of doctors to be interrogated regarding the death and to clarify the medical condition of the deceased.

 

Lawmaker Ahmed El-Tahawy for Al-Husseiniya district confirmed that the technical committee that was tasked to find out the reasons for the deaths did not monitor any malfunctions in the gas network or the oxygen tank feeding the hospital.

 

In remarks to Youm7, He called upon the Ministry of Health to form a neutral fact-finding committee to investigate the incident.  

 

 

Some social media accounts say that oxygen was provided to the hospital after the patient died.