酸素供給停止でコロナ患者２２人死亡　インド

【ムンバイＡＦＰ＝時事】インド西部マハラシュトラ州の病院で２１日、新型コロナウイルス感染症患者が使用していた人工呼吸器への酸素供給が停止し、患者２２人が死亡した。同国では新型ウイルスの流行第２波が猛威を振るい、深刻な医療用品不足が生じている。（写真は資料写真）
　事故が起きたのは、同州の州都ムンバイ（旧ボンベイ）の北約２００キロに位置するナシクにあるザキール・フセイン病院。病院前に駐車していた車両の酸素タンクから酸素が３０分間にわたり漏れ、その間、重症患者６０人余りの人工呼吸器への酸素供給が停止した。
　ナレンドラ・モディ首相はツイッターへの投稿で、事故について「心が痛む」と言明。「これが原因で命が奪われたことに胸を痛めている」とした。
　マハラシュトラ州のウッダブ・タークレー首相は調査を命じた。同州は同国の新型ウイルス流行中心地となっており、タークレー氏は先週、感染者数の増加に伴う酸素供給の深刻な不足を緩和するため、空軍による酸素の空輸を政府に要請していた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/22-12:46）

Twenty-two Covid-19 patients at a hospital in India were killed on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their ventilators was disrupted by a leak.
The tragedy comes as India battles severe shortages of medical supplies during a fierce second wave of coronavirus infections.
The 30-minute leak from an oxygen tanker stationed outside Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik, about 200 kilometres north of Mumbai, cut off supply to the ventilators of more than 60 critically ill patients.
The oxygen supply was restored within half an hour and oxygen is being supplied through the same tanker now, local official Suraj Mandhare told reporters after the leak.
Weeping relatives gathered at the hospital, which was treating 170 Covid-19 patients in total, many of whom were moved to other facilities after the incident occurred.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the leak, which took place in Maharashtra state -- the epicentre of the country's Covid outbreak -- was heart-wrenching.
Anguished by the loss of lives due to it, he tweeted.
The state's chief minister Uddhav Thackeray ordered an inquiry.
The deaths come a week after Thackeray asked Indian pilots to airlift oxygen supplies to the region to alleviate severe shortages as Covid-19 infection numbers climb.
Hospitals in India's capital New Delhi have come perilously close to seeing their oxygen supplies run out as infections continue to spike in the country of 1.3 billion.