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Oxygen shortage: J&K Govt issues press release on behalf of ASCOMS Jammu, withdraws it later

In what has further increased the confusion regarding alleged oxygen shortage at ASCOMS (Batra) hospital in Jammu, UT Government first issued a press statement on behalf of the private hospital only to cancel it later.

The press release by government stated, “According to Director Principal, Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences and Hospital (ASCOMS), Dr, Pavan Malhotra, a patient namely Bita Kumari Kher aged 59 years was admitted on 14.04.2021 as CoVID positive and turned negative on 28.04.2021. She however could not support herself on the atmospheric oxygen and had to continue with High Flow oxygen even after getting negative”.

The press statement stressed that the principal of ASCOMS hospital and medical college said that the oxygen supply to the hospital is adequate.

However soon after the publicity department of J&K government issued another mail in which it said that the press release regarding ASCOMS may be treated as cancelled.

It is pertinent to mention here that families of patients admitted at ASCOMS Jammu had alleged that their family members died due to shortage of oxygen. The district administration was quick to term the allegations as rumours even without holding an independent probe into the incident of deaths of patients.