Agra hospital's 'mock drill' didn't kill 22 patients, says probe report

Agra’s Paras Hospital grabbed national headlines after a purported video of a mock drill, allegedly shot on April 28, went viral. A probe into the alleged incident has now revealed that the hospital's ‘mock drill’ didn't cause the deaths of 22 people.

As per the report, the hospital authorities informed the investigators that they had been misquoted and that the viral video had been misconstrued. The hospital had been sealed and was under government scrutiny after a video of its owner was heard narrating a story where “22 people turned blue and died" after a “mock drill".

The probe found that as opposed to media reports the hospital in Agra had not conducted a ‘mock drill’ during which oxygen supply was switched off for five minutes, the hospital had merely conducted a risk assessment exercise to identify critically-ill patients who would need special help in case there was to be a shortage in the future.

The report, which is based on the findings of a four-member death audit committee and a two-member team comprising government officials, does, however, say that 16 patients had died in the hospital on the same day. But, almost all of them suffered from co-morbidities like type 2 diabetes and bilateral pneumonitis.