The harrowing Covid-related narratives in the country have plumbed new depths with an allegation that the staff of a Gurgaon hospital abandoned their posts after oxygen ran out and left several patients to die on the intervening night of April 30 and May 1.

“Around 10pm on April 30, the lights were switched off for about 45 minutes. When the lights came on, there was no sign of any staff. Some people barged into the ICU and found their relatives dead,” said Mrityunjay Pathak, whose brother Naveen was a patient at Kriti Hospital in Sector 56.

The 38-year-old Naveen, an employee of Union Bank of India, was being treated for complications related to the coronavirus. He is no more.

On the evening of April 30, Mrityunjay said he ran from pillar to post in Gurgaon — a city he is unfamiliar with — to get oxygen for his brother.

“Oxygen began to get over around 4pm and the hospital staff kept saying it would come in half an hour. Between 6 and 7pm, the oxygen finally got over and patients began to sink. I rushed out in search of an oxygen cylinder. I was cheated as the two cylinders I bought had hardly any oxygen in them,” Mrityunjay, who hails from Jharkhand’s Medininagar, told The Telegraph on Wednesday.

Videos of people barging into Kriti Hospital’s ICU — devoid of any medical staff — and finding their relatives dead are now viral online.

Naveen was in the general ward with around 20 other patients, said his brother, who added that most of them passed away during the night. A police officer put the toll lower at six and said there was no shortage of oxygen.

The district administration is yet to complete its inquiry into the deaths.

“After 8pm, relatives of those who died started making a ruckus. The hospital had misled us about the oxygen supply and had they told us earlier, maybe we could have managed oxygen from somewhere. Around 10pm, the lights were switched off for about 45 minutes. The media and the police had started arriving. When the lights came on, there was no sign of any staff.

Some people barged into the ICU and found their relatives dead,” Mrityunjay said.

He added that oxygen was restored at 2am. “My brother had a heart attack at 4am and was put on ventilator. He died soon after. Someone circulated a letter to various authorities from the kin of the deceased. I signed it too. There were around 15 other signatories. I have been too distraught to follow up,” he told this newspaper.

There are 40 beds in the general ward where Naveen was, and eight in the ICU.

A police officer said: “We received a call informing us about a clash at the hospital. When we arrived there at night, we found angry relatives of patients. The doctors were there but were hiding. We do not have any information of an oxygen shortage. Of the six who died, five were Covid patients. No complaint against the hospital has been received.”

Gurgaon’s deputy commissioner did not respond to calls and messages from this newspaper.

His office tweeted on Wednesday: “With reference to the videos of Kriti Hospital being shared on social media, we would like to clarify, as confirmed by Dr Swati Rathore from the management team of the hospital, that there has been no casualty at the facility last night. The videos being shared are from last week and deputy commissioner Gurugram has ordered a probe which is underway.”

Rathore, incidentally a district vice-president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, did not respond to calls from this newspaper. The hospital has BJP flags affixed on its perimeter.

Rathore told reporters earlier that several government officials had been informed of the oxygen shortage and doctors hid as the hospital had already witnessed violence by relatives of patients last month.

Kaustav Ritwik, who lost his 75-year-old grandmother Geeta Sinha, tweeted on the night of April 30: “No doctor, nobody at the reception, no doctor. Saw lady doctor leaving in her car. Is this why #BJP was elected?”