Six coronavirus patients at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar died on Saturday night due to a lack of timely supply of oxygen, the hospital's spokesperson Farhad Khan confirmed on Sunday.
He said that five patients were admitted to the hospital's coronavirus ward while one was in the intensive care unit (ICU). The hospital receives its oxygen supply from Rawalpindi which did not reach on time, leading to the death of the critically ill patients, he added.
The spokesperson said that more oxygen was required during the winter season. The hospital had the capacity to keep 10,000 liters of oxygen which was maintained on a daily basis and it also had backup cylinders.
He further said that the situation was "under control" and details were being acquired about the reasons behind the delay in supply.
Meanwhile, KP Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra directed the Board of Governors (BoG) of the KTH to conduct an inquiry into the incident and take action within 48 hours.
Jhagra warned that if the inquiry conducted by the hospital's BoG was found to be unsatisfactory, the provincial government would "immediately order its own independent inquiry".
In a tweet, the minister said that all facts of the case would be made public and requested people to refrain from sharing unverified information on social media.
"Neither this nor any other incident will be left unused, to improve the health system, its service, and its system of accountability and transparency," Jhagra said.
There was no let-up in the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan as 58 more countrymen succumbed to the deadly infection while over 3,300 new cases were recorded during the last 24 hours (Sunday), said the data released by NCOC on Sunday morning.
The ever-growing coronavirus pandemic has added 3,308 more infections taking the national tally to 416,499.
According to the latest data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 3,308 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours. On the contrary, 58 patients have died taking the death toll from Covid-19 to 8,361.
As many as 41,645 samples were tested in the previous 24 hours (Sindh 13,684, Punjab 14,983, KP 4,757, ICT 6,852, Balochistan 413, GB 411, AJK 545) and total active Covid cases in Pakistan were 53,126 on Sunday morning.
As many as 355,012 People recovered so far across Pakistan making it a significant count. The NCOC revealed that the positivity ratio of fresh Covid-19 cases stands at 7.94 percent.Out of the latest 60 deaths, 20 reported in Sindh, 25 in Punjab, six in KP, six in Islamabad and two in Azad