At least 10 people died after Indian hospital ran out of oxygen: 'Everyone was helpless'

A COVID-19 patient receives oxygen in Ghaziabad, India.
(Image credit: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui)

At least 10 people died overnight at the Chamarajanagar District Hospital in Karnataka, India, after the facility ran out of oxygen.

Officials said 14 more patients died before oxygen arrived on Monday morning, but it's unclear if the oxygen deprivation is what led to their deaths. Rani, a 28-year-old nurse, told The New York Times her 29-year-old husband, Sureendra, was one of the COVID-19 patients who died. Sureendra was in the intensive care unit, and Rani said when she spoke to him at dinnertime, he sounded okay. At about 11:30 p.m., he called and was gasping for breath, she said, and begged her to come see him before he died. "Everyone was helpless," Rani told the Times, adding, "What will I do without my husband now?"


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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.