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Manila Bulletin devider World devider COVID-19 patients die in Romania after oxygen fails

COVID-19 patients die in Romania after oxygen fails

Published Apr 13, 2021 06:40 am

Three elderly COVID-19 patients died on Monday in a mobile intensive care unit in Bucharest after a malfunction in the oxygen supply system, the emergency situations department (DSU) said.

"Ventilators stopped working because the oxygen level rose above the limit", the department said in a statement, adding that an investigation was opened into the incident at "Victor Babes" hospital.

Five other patients were transfered to other hospitals in the capital.

"It seems to have been an accident, but an investigation already started. All those guilty must be held responsible", Prime Minister Florin Citu said in a press statement.

The patients who died were in a poor condition and went into cardiac arrest, a doctor from Victor Babes told AFP.

With an average of 4,000 new Covid-19 cases every day and more than 100 deaths, Romania's healthcare system has struggled to cope with a third wave of the  pandemic.

Intensive care units are stretched to the limit, according to health officials, while the government has pledged to supplement the number of ICU beds.

"We are at war with this pandemic for more than an year now and the pressure on ICU is immense", said prime minister Citu.

The tragedy in Bucharest comes less than three months after a fire  inside an intensive care unit at another clinic in Romania's capital, killed five Covid-19 patients.

Last November, a fire in an intensive care unit of a hospital in the northeastern town of Piatra Neamt left 15 COVID patients dead.

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