Two COVID-19 patients died in a Lviv Oblast hospital after ventilators stopped due to a power outage.
Two local residents, 61 and 66, died in the intensive care unit in Zhovkva, a city of nearly 14,000 residents in Lviv Oblast, on Nov. 27. The cause of death was respiratory failure.
The hospital suffered an unexpected power outage that lasted one hour. Doctors tried to ventilate the patients manually with breathing bags, but it didn’t help.
Although the hospital had two electric generators that can be used in case of emergency blackouts, they were not used. The management of the hospital told the police they thought there was no need for using the generators.
Later Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that the generators were supposed to turn on automatically, but it didn’t happen.
The police opened a criminal investigation into the incident. The hospital staff are suspected of negligence and involuntary manslaughter.
“This is unacceptable and should not ever happen again,” Deputy Head of President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who reportedly oversees medical supplies, told Ukrainska Pravda news site.
Following the incident, the health ministry ordered a check-up of medical equipment in all hospitals that treat COVID-19 patients.
The Governor of Lviv Oblast Maksym Kozytskyi has called for the dismissal of the head of the Zhovkva district administration and the head of the hospital where the two patients have died.
The supplies of medical equipment to the hospitals designated for treating COVID-19 patients has been one of the most discussed issues in Ukraine since the start of the pandemic, with the main focus on lung ventilators.
In October, the health ministry reported that only 10% of lung ventilators in Ukrainian hospitals are in use. Despite the reports by the government, experts pointed out that due to the generally run-down state of Ukrainian hospitals, equipment that exists on paper may actually be old and faulty.
