Anger protest outside Al-Salt hospital near Amman, Jordan, March 13, 2021 / AFP
Seven patients with Covid-19, in intensive care in a hospital near Amman, died on Saturday following an oxygen supply failure, causing great emotion in the country and the anger of the king in full resurgence of the epidemic in Jordan.
Abdallah II, in military uniform, went to the hospital in Salt, located 30 km from the capital. According to images broadcast on television, he asked the director to resign after he expressed his dissatisfaction.
“How could such a thing have happened here?” How come there is no oxygen in this hospital? It is unacceptable! ”, Launched the sovereign, visibly furious, to the director Abdel Razak al-Khachman.
“An oxygen supply failure occurred for nearly an hour at the government hospital in Salt and this probably resulted in the death” of the patients, said on the spot the Minister of Health Nazir Obeidat, in front of the journalists.
The minister submitted his resignation, which was accepted by Prime Minister Bicher al-Khasawneh. The latter then told reporters that the hospital director had been dismissed from his post.
The director of provincial health services has been suspended pending the results of the open inquiry, the prime minister added, adding that the government was “taking full responsibility” for the incident.
“According to a new report, four men and three women over the age of 40 have died,” said Adnane Abbas, national director of forensic medicine.
Photo provided by the Royal Palace showing King Abdullah II visiting a field hospital in Aqaba on January 24, 2021 / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP
“After the autopsy and samples from the lungs of the victims, there are clear signs that the deaths were caused by a lack of oxygen,” he added.
These deaths angered hundreds of people, including the families of the victims, who gathered in front of the public hospital in Salt, where 150 Covid patients are being treated.
“We hope that God will have mercy on the victims and we want those responsible for what happened to be judged severely,” Abu Abdallah, who lost one of his relatives, told AFP.
Security forces were deployed to frame the protest.
– Zero tolerance –
“This hospital was already short of doctors and nurses, but what happened today is even more serious, with the lack of oxygen which has increased the suffering of the sick,” said Souleimane Khreissat, a retired nurse. who lost two of his relatives.
An extraordinary meeting of the Parliament and the Senate is due to take place on Sunday, announced the president of the Chamber of Deputies Abdelmoneim Saleh.
“In these difficult times, institutions cannot tolerate negligence and error, especially in the treatment provided in hospitals,” he said.
Demonstration in front of the Salt hospital in Jordan, upon the arrival of King Abdullah II, March 13, 2021 / AFP
“No leniency can be given to those responsible for the negligence that led to today’s incident and others” in the past, added Saleh.
Jordan announced this week the extension of the curfew in force since February 24 as well as the closure of public gardens, schools and universities, sports clubs and hammams, in the face of the resurgence of the epidemic in the country.
The kingdom of 10 million people has recorded more than 464,000 cases of infection, including 5,200 deaths, according to the authorities.
Since the launch of its vaccination campaign in January, 65,000 people have received at least one dose of the German-American vaccine Pfizer / BioNTech or the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.
Jordan also received on Friday a first delivery of 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax device set up by the WHO to facilitate the access of the most disadvantaged countries to the vaccine.
A second delivery is expected in April, it is specified in a joint press release from Unicef, the European Union and the WHO.
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