Jordan jails health officials over Covid-19 oxygen deaths
- The patients, who were being treated in the hospital, died in March when staff failed to act after oxygen ran out in a coronavirus ward for nearly an hour
- The court found the former director of the state hospital in Salt, a city west of the capital Amman, and four of his senior aides responsible for the deaths
A Jordanian court sentenced five senior health officials to three years in prison on Sunday for causing the death of 10 Covid-19 patients following an oxygen outage in a major state hospital, state media said.
The court found the former director of the state hospital in Salt, a city west of the capital Amman, and four of his senior aides responsible for the deaths, the media said. The patients, who were being treated in the hospital, died in March when staff failed to act after oxygen ran out in a coronavirus ward for nearly an hour.
The disaster, which politicians and local activists said exposed gross negligence in the state health system during a spike in Covid-19 infections, sparked anti-government protests across many cities and provincial towns.
Health Minister Nathir Obeidat resigned hours after the incident and in a public apology, Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh said his government bore full responsibility for the incident.
Soon after the deaths, King Abdullah visited the hospital and publicly scolded health officials in the corridor of the hospital, where police were deployed to hold back hundreds of angry relatives and protesters who were encircling the compound.