AMMAN (Reuters) – A Jordanian court docket sentenced 5 senior well being officers to 3 years in jail on Sunday for inflicting the demise of 10 COVID-19 sufferers following an oxygen outage in a significant state hospital, state media stated.
The court docket discovered the previous director of the state hospital in Salt, a metropolis west of the capital, and 4 of his senior aides answerable for the deaths, the media stated. The sufferers, who had been being handled within the hospital, died in March when employees did not act after oxygen ran out in a COVID-19 ward for practically an hour.
The catastrophe, which politicians and native activists stated uncovered gross negligence within the state well being system throughout a spike in COVID-19 infections, sparked anti-government protests throughout many cities and provincial cities.
Well being Minister Nathir Obeidat resigned hours after the incident and in a public apology, Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh stated his authorities bore full accountability for the incident.
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Shortly after the deaths, King Abdullah visited the hospital and publicly scolded well being officers within the hall of the hospital, the place police had been deployed to carry again a whole lot of offended kinfolk and protesters who had been encircling the compound.
The royal go to was supposed to defuse tensions in a rustic the place anger with the authorities has up to now triggered widespread civil unrest.
For the reason that incident, the authorities have dismissed scores of officers in state hospitals in a marketing campaign to curb mismanagement and perceived corruption.
It has poured tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to coach and recruit well being employees in goverment hospitals that face shortages of certified employees.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Modifying by Frances Kerry)
Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters.
