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30th Apr 2021

Woman dies after Indian police ‘take oxygen cylinder from family for VIP’

Claudia McInerney

A mother’s oxygen was taken away after the hospital said there was no oxygen left

A sad video has gone viral in India, which seemingly shows the moment a son got on his knees and begged the Uttar Pradesh police to not take away his mother’s oxygen tank.

His 53-year-old mother, Usha Goyal, who was admitted to hospital for Covid-19 complications, sadly died two hours after the police are alleged to have taken away her oxygen cylinder.

The woman’s 22-year-old son, Anmol Goyal, begged police outside the private Upadhyay hospital in the city of Agra, before saying: “My mother will die if you take away her oxygen cylinder.”

“The only thing that the doctor said would help her, an oxygen cylinder, was taken away from us,” Goyal told the local news outlets in India.

The journalist who filmed the footage claimed that the Uttar Pradesh police took the oxygen cylinder away in order to give it to a VIP, as reported by the Independent.

The 22-year-old told the local media that when he knew what was happening, he attempted to stop the men but was left with no choice. The woman’s son fell to his knees and exclaimed: “My mother will die.”

Speaking to the Wire, Goyal said: “When I asked the ward boys why they were taking away our oxygen cylinder, they told me that they want to save somebody’s life. Who is that somebody? And is my mother’s life not valuable enough?”

Goyal’s younger brother, Ansh, bought a regulator after realising that his mother would need one for the oxygen cylinder to function.

The pair placed the oxygen tank at the side of their mother’s bed in the private hospital, as reported by the Independent. However, doctors told Ansh and Anmol that the hospital had run out of oxygen.

As reported by the Independent, one doctor told the Goyal brothers: “If you have any contacts, you will know how to arrange one.”

Usha Goyal’s oxygen was taken away and two hours later, she sadly passed away.

The Agra Police denied the claims of the Goyal brothers that the oxygen cylinder was taken away from their mother.

Rohan P Botre, Superintendent of Agra Police said, “It was an empty cylinder being taken away from the hospital for refilling.”

This comes after the number of Covid infections in India has exceeded 18 million.

As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, oxygen supplies and hospital beds in the country are in massively short supply.