Jordan hospital runs out of oxygen, patients die

JORDAN, MIDDLE EAST — At least seven people died at a hospital in Jordan on Saturday 13 March 2021 after it ran out of oxygen, according to Jordanian news reports, prompting an outcry in the kingdom, a visit to the hospital by King Abdullah II and the resignations of the country’s health minister and the hospital’s director.

Officials said that all of the victims were being treated for the coronavirus and that they had died after an interruption of oxygen supply that lasted around an hour at a government hospital in Salt, northwest of Amman, the capital.

Many countries across the world, including Mexico, Nigeria and Egypt, have faced oxygen supply shortages that have driven up the virus death toll. In Mexico, prices for oxygen have spiked, sales of oxygen tanks have thrived on the black market, and criminal groups have stolen them from hospitals. In Egypt, a New York Times investigation found that at least three patients had died of oxygen deprivation in a hospital that was running out of it earlier this year.

READ MORE OF ELIAN PELTIER’S STORY IN THE NEW YORK TIMES:

At least 7 Covid-19 patients die in Jordan because of an oxygen shortage, a growing problem around the world.

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