Health Ministry: Difficult to determine oxygen shortage deaths

The Health Ministry has declared that it will be difficult to determine whether any of the COVID deaths recorded two weekends ago were the result of the oxygen shortage.

During the shortage, several hospitals were low on oxygen, and many were entirely out.

Relatives of Savanna-la-Mar nurse Diagre Cunningham said the lack of oxygen contributed to her death.

There were claims that other patients died because of the lack of oxygen.

But according to Chief Medical Officer Dr Jaquiline Bisasor McKenzie, it is difficult to determine if the oxygen shortage resulted in deaths.

“The pathology of severe COVID is such that most deaths are going to result from respiratory failure or multi-organ involvement and hence it will be difficult to say that the cause of death was due to reduced oxygen supplies,” she said.

Bisasor McKenzie was speaking on Thursday at the Health Ministry's weekly COVID Conversation press briefing.

The Health Ministry recorded 18 deaths on August 28 and another 18 on August 29, the weekend of the oxygen crisis.

Meanwhile, Bisasor McKenzie said, for the period August 1 to September 8, there were 565 COVID deaths in Jamaica.

Another 108 deaths are under investigation to determine if they are COVID-related.

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