Oxygen outage at a hospital in Jordan kills 7, Widespread protest on streets

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Saturday dismissed Health Minister Nazir Obeidat after an hour-long oxygen outage killed 7 Covid19 patients in the main government hospital of Al Salt.

According to official reports, the oxygen shortage on Saturday hit intensive care, maternity and coronavirus wards in The Salt Government Hospital which also resulted in forced quitting of the hospital director Abdulrazzaq al-Khasman.

The National Center for Forensic Medicine director confirmed that six people has died in hospital as a result of hypoxia who were all over 40 years of age, before the Jordanian authorities announced a seventh death.

Though Obeidat announced to submit his resignation to PM Bisher Al-Khasawneh saying that he bears moral responsibility, the angry mass and relatives of the victims took to the streets to protest and demanded his immediate stepdown.

"What happened is a huge and flagrant mistake, unjustified and unacceptable. We cannot accept the death of a single Jordanian. The government alone assumes full responsibility for what happened," said Al-Khasawneh.

Al-Khasawneh guaranteed an immediate and transparent investigations to hold all parties accountable.

The Salt Government Hospital was launched 7 months ago officially offering latest medical equipment and adequate nursing and medical staff.

This has attributed to spiked coronavirus deaths with the country imposing a full lockdown on Fridays and restrictive measures last week to limit the spread of the pandemic. The measures include extension of the partial daily ban and remote education of schools and universities, the suspension of Friday prayers and Sunday mass, closure of commercial centers and the limiting the number of passengers in public transport.

The health ministry has recorded 464,856 coronavirus cases and 5,224 related deaths, as per the stats till Saturday.