AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan’s health minister was fired on Saturday after seven people died after an oxygen drop at a hospital that treated coronavirus patients, and the police were dispatched to contain hundreds of angry relatives, the media said. state and witnesses.
The oxygen failure on Saturday hit intensive care, maternity and coronavirus wards at the new Salt government hospital, west of the capital Amman.
Prime Minister Bisher al Khaswaneh said he sacked Health Minister Nathir Obeidat. In a public apology, he said his government had full responsibility for the incident.
“This is a gross error that cannot be justified or accepted. I’m ashamed and I’m not going to justify it, ”said Khaswaneh, adding that he was awaiting the results of a judicial investigation.
Obeidat said he had “moral responsibility” for the deaths of the patients, who were being treated for COVID-19 when the wards were without oxygen for almost an hour.
King Abdullah visited the hospital in an action that officials said was aimed at defusing tensions. Anger at the authorities has already caused civil unrest in Jordan.
“How can a hospital like this see something like this happening?” he said as he entered the multi-million dollar hospital, which only went into operation last August.
Some politicians said the incident pointed to major mismanagement in public hospitals.
Jordan is facing an increase in COVID-19 infections attributed mainly to the rapid transmission of the coronavirus variant first identified in Britain, and announced stricter measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 last week.
Jordan reported 8,300 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic first appeared in the kingdom a year ago.
Jordan, with a population of around 10 million, recorded 385,533 cases of COVID-19 and 5,224 deaths.
Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, edited by Ros Russell, Alexandra Hudson and Timothy Heritage