Jordan: Five Senior Health Officials sentenced to Jail for death of Covid – 19 patients due to oxygen shortage

Nishka Srinivas Veluvali –

Published On: December 06, 2021 at 19:00 IST

On Sunday, 5 December Jordanian Court convicted five senior health officials for three years in Jail. The Officials are convicted for causing the deaths of 10 Covid-19 patients due to oxygen atrocity in the State Hospital.

The Court found the former director of the hospital, Abdel Razak al-Khashman along with his four senior aides accountable for the deaths.

The patients were being treated in the hospital in Salt, a city west of the Amman(capital), died in March due to Oxygen shortage in Covid-19 ward, for which the hospital staff failed to take action for almost an hour.

The Agence France – Presse (AFP) News Agency stated that the Judgement can be sent for Appeal within 10 days.

The Politicians and local Activists claimed that this callous disaster exposed the sheer negligence of the State Health System in the period of Covid-19 spike. This gave rise to anti-governments protests and marches across the cities and towns.

Immediately hours after the incident, Health Minister Nathir Obeidat resigned from his position and the Prime Minister, Bisher al-Khasawneh in his public apology claimed that his government will take the full responsibility for the accident.

King Abdullah II made a visit to the hospital and publicly reprimanded the health officials and to control the angry relatives and protestors, the Police Officers were appointed at the hospital.

Following the incident many officials from the state hospital have been removed from their jobs to curb the mismanagement and perceived corruption.

Millions of dollars are being invested to train and recruit health workers in State Hospital that is currently facing shortage of qualified workforce.

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