Court hears two new prosecution witnesses in Salt hospital case
shahennews
The Amman Magistrates Court, on Thursday, held its 25th session on the Salt hospital case where eight people died due to an oxygen supply outage.
In a public session, the court, chaired by Judge Odai Freihat, heard two new prosecution witnesses; one of whom is the new Director of the (Hussein) Salt hospital, who assumed his position on the day after the incident.
The witness told the court that he had had no knowledge about the amount of oxygen supply at the hospital during the first week of assuming his position.
He testified: “After the oxygen supply outage incident, everyone in the hospital began monitoring the tanks, especially the administrators,” noting that the number of COVID-19 patients at the hospital, according to an inspection following the incident, was 159, including 127 patients in the regular care unit, 25 in intermediate care, and 7 in intensive care.
He attested that the number of nurses supervising patients a day before incident was 12 nurses and 18 nurses on the day. In accordance with international standards, every 6 to 8 patients need one or two nurses in regular care, while in the intensive care unit, every one or two patients need one nurse, he added, pointing out that the nursing staff on duty that day was ‘insufficient’ for the number of existing patients.
The witness told he court that the Medical Gases Committee at the hospital, which consists of the director and three other people, supervises the process of oxygen refill and submits a report on it.
The Public Prosecution and the defense attorneys examined the witnesses’ testimony. The court adjourned the session to next Sunday to hear the testimony of four forensic experts in the case.
Last March, the Public Prosecution opened an investigation into an oxygen supply outage at the Salt government hospital, prompting the arrest of 13 Health Ministry officials, who are charged with eight counts of involuntary manslaughter.
//Petra// AJ
