Dr Arinjay Jain,
owner of a private hospital in Agra and the person at the centre of an oxygen mock drill controversy, on Tuesday refuted the “baseless allegations” of deaths resulting
from the exercise and has pledged his full support in the ongoing investigation
into the incident.

Earlier
today, in a purported video, Jain allegedly admitted to have cut the oxygen
supply to critical patients on April 26 and 27 as part of a “mock drill” to
determine which of them were critical and needed to be kept in the hospital.

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Uttar Pradesh authorities
have launched a probe into the incident.

Speaking to
ANI, Jain refuted the reports of a mock drill, saying his mention of the words were
“by mistake or by innocence”. “We conducted, call it clinical assessment or
mock drill, to check how we can maintain a patient at minimum level of oxygen
in our effort to ensure its rationale use. During this exercise, bedside oxygen
adjustment was made,” he told ANI.

The incident
allegedly took place at the Paras Hospital in Agra. Jain, who cannot be seen on
camera in the purported video shared by Livehindustan, is allegedly heard
saying that the hospital asked families to get their patients discharged as
there was shortage in oxygen that day. Opoyi could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

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Some of the
patients’ families refused, Jain allegedly said in the video, following which he
asked his staff to identify patients whose oxygen supply can be cut. He also says
that 22 patients started “turning blue” during the ‘mock drill’ indicating they
will not survive.

Both state
health minister Jai Pratap Singh and Agra district magistrate Prabhu N Singh had
confirmed the matter was being probed, with the latter also saying that seven
patients had died in the hospital on those two days.

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“Oxygen
supply was not snapped during this exercise. It enabled us to identify patients
who needed high-flow oxygen, so that we can make optional arrangements for them
in case of acute oxygen shortage,” Jain said in defence of the exercise.

“I am ready
to cooperate in any investigation. Officials of the health department today
visited the hospital and I gave them all information they needed. But
unfortunately, my hospital has been sealed,” he added.