Delhi government to give Rs 5 lakh compensation to kin of those who died due to oxygen shortage

NEW DELHI: In a major decision, the Delhi government has announced that it will provide a compensation of up to Rs 5 lakh to the kin of COVID-19 patients who died due to lack of oxygen. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has also formed a committee of six doctors to prepare the framework of the compensation.

“The government has formed a six-member committee to assess cases of COVID-19 patients who died due to lack of oxygen recently in the national capital for grant of compensation up to Rs 5 lakh,” an official order said on Thursday.

According to the order, the committee will check whether the oxygen was being used properly at the hospital as per the norms. "The committee would come up with objective criteria to award compensation, limited to a maximum of Rs 5 lakhs in each case," the order said.

This committee will send its report to the Principal Secretary (Health), Delhi, on a weekly basis. Earlier this month, 12 patients at Delhi's Batra Hospital, including a senior doctor, died due to a shortage of oxygen.

On April 24, as many as 20 COVID-19 patients had died at Jaipur Golden Hospital as the frantic hunt for oxygen continued while COVID-19 cases surged in the national capital.

"A committee is hereby constituted to assess on case to case basis, complaints and/or representations received regarding death due to lack of oxygen, for grant of ex-gratia compensation over and above the no-fault ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 already ordered by the government," the order said.

The committee comprises six members - Dr Naresh Kumar, Director-Professor (Medicine), LNJP and MAMC, Dr Amit Kohli, senior anesthetist, LNJP, Dr Sanjeev Kumar, specialist, anesthesia, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Surender Kumar from DGHS (HQ), Dr A C Shukla, medical superintendent, Mata Chanan Devi Hospital, Janak Puri and Dr J P Singh, medical superintendent, Tirath Ram Hospital in Civil Lines, it said.

The committee shall receive all the complaints and representations in the online as well as offline mode at the nursing home cell of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), it said.

"The committee would meet at least twice a week either physically or through VC at a fixed time. The committee will be empowered to seek any documents from the concerned hospitals, including records of oxygen supply, storage and stock position," the order said.

The committee will check the steps taken by the hospital for maintaining sufficient oxygen stock with respect to the patients admitted there, it added.