Jordan plant to produce 600 oxygen tanks in three weeks after hospital incident

The Jordanian armed forces established an oxygen plant to produce 600 oxygen cylinders in three weeks, the interior minister announced Sunday, following a hospital shortage that killed six COVID-19 patients.

Minister Mazen al-Faraya also said a total of 10 tons of oxygen will be produced in the month of April, according to local Roya News.

He also clarified, during an emergency parliament session held on Sunday, that a total of nine people had died, of which six were a direct result of the hospital running out of oxygen.

The director and four other officials of the hospital in Salt, near Amman, were detained on Sunday in connection to the incident, judicial sources said.

Public anger over the deaths led to the resignation of health minister Nazir Obeidat, and King Abdullah II, who visited the state hospital on Saturday, ordered its director Abdel Razak al-Khashman to also step down.

The head of health services for the province where Salt is located has likewise been suspended pending the completion of an investigation.

They came as the daily virus caseload in Jordan has surged in recent weeks, prompting authorities to reimpose curbs, including an all-day curfew on Fridays, the day of rest.

Jordan, which launched its COVID-19 vaccination drive in January, has recorded more than 460,000 coronavirus cases and over 5,200 deaths.

With AFP