Angry relatives of Rama Sutradhar demonstrate in front of the hospital superintendent. (Nantu Dey)

Raiganj, June 20: A 22-year-old woman was left gasping for breath for 40 minutes as nurses at the district hospital here tried one empty oxygen cylinder after another till she died.

“All three cylinders were empty. The fourth one, which was full, was brought from another ward after 40 minutes. By then, Rama was dead,” said Nirmal Sutradhar, the woman’s brother.

The Sutradhars have filed an FIR against the doctor in charge, Sanjib Maity, and three nurses on duty, who have not been named.

Relatives of the deceased woman also gheraoed the superintendent of the hospital, Swapan Kumar Pal, for an hour and submitted a complaint to him.

Pal said preliminary investigation points to an acute case of pancreatitis.

Sefali Roy, a patient in the female medicine ward, recounted that Rama had been admitted with severe abdominal pain this morning. “Around 8am, she started gasping for breath. She herself was crying out for oxygen. Her relatives requested the nurses on duty to give her a cylinder. A doctor also instructed the nurses to put her on oxygen. They kept trying one cylinder after another on her. And then she suddenly stopped moving,” Sefali said.

Nirmal said even for the fourth cylinder, it is the family members who had to go hunting. “We brought it from the male ward. But it was too late. She gave us 40 minutes and we could do nothing.

“We have lodged a complaint with the Raiganj police station. We have filed police complaints against the doctor on duty and three nurses,” Nirmal added .

Maity, the accused, doctor, refused comment.

Hospital superintendent Pal said it was beyond his comprehension how empty oxygen cylinders could be kept in the medicine ward. “It is gross negligence on the part of our nursing staff,” Pal admitted. He said nurses should have asked for replacements from the store as soon as they took over the shift. “I am looking into who were on duty at that time. The doctor, too, should have stayed till the patient was put on oxygen,” Pal said.

The chief medical officer of health of North Dinajpur Shudhangshu Sekhar Shaoo, said he had heard about the incident. “It is most unfortunate and shameful. I will take action after I get a report from the hospital superintendent,” he said.