Bengaluru,  The Karnataka government has ordered a probe into the tragic death of 23 Covid patients due to interruption in the supply of medical oxygen at the Chamarajanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) in Chamarajanagar district on Monday.

According to the notification issued by N. Manjunath Prasad, Principal Secretary in the Revenue Deparrtment, senior IAS officer Shivayogi Kalasad, who is also Managing Director of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), has been appointed as the inquiry officer to probe the incident.

Describing the incident as a matter of grave concern, Prasad, who is also the member secretary of the Karnataka Disaster Management Authority, directed Kalsad to file a detailed report within three days.

At least 23 patients died at CIMS in the wee hours of Monday after their oxygen supply dropped, officials said.

"The deaths were reported after there was a fall in oxygen supply between 12 midnight and 2 a.m. At least 144 patients were being treated at the hospital when the tragedy struck," said a senior official at CIMS.

CIMS Director D.M. Sanjeev told reporters that due to a shortage of oxygen, 23 patients who were on ventilator support and needed high flow of oxygen have died.

"Of these, 18 were suffering from comorbidities and had long-standing problems. Right now we need 350 oxygen cylinders a day, an increase from 35-40 cylinders daily, but our vendors are not able to match the rise in demand. We faced a major shortage due to delay in supply because of the widespread increase in demand," he explained.

The district has reported a total of 11,928 Covid cases since the beginning of the pandemic. At least 167 people have fallen prey to the virus until Sunday.