Politicians and native activists say the incident that led to 10 deaths uncovered gross negligence within the state well being system.
A Jordanian courtroom has sentenced 5 senior well being officers to 3 years in jail for inflicting the dying of 10 COVID-19 sufferers following an oxygen outage in an enormous state hospital, state media reported.
The courtroom on Sunday discovered Abdel Razak al-Khashman, the previous director of the state hospital and 4 of his senior aides chargeable for the deaths, the media mentioned.
The sufferers, who had been being handled within the hospital in Salt, a metropolis west of the capital Amman, died in March when workers didn’t act after oxygen ran out in a COVID-19 ward for almost an hour.
The decision may be appealed inside 10 days, the AFP information company reported.
The catastrophe, which politicians and native activists mentioned uncovered gross negligence within the state well being system throughout a spike in COVID-19 infections, sparked anti-government protests throughout many cities and provincial cities.
Well being Minister Nathir Obeidat resigned hours after the incident and in a public apology, Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh mentioned his authorities bore full duty for the incident.
Shortly after the deaths, King Abdullah II visited the hospital and publicly scolded well being officers within the hall of the hospital, the place police had been deployed to carry again tons of of offended family and protesters who had been encircling the compound.
The royal go to was meant to defuse tensions in a rustic the place anger with the authorities has prior to now triggered widespread civil unrest.
Because the incident, the authorities have dismissed dozens of officers in state hospitals in a marketing campaign to curb mismanagement and perceived corruption.
Authorities have poured tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to coach and recruit well being staff in state hospitals that face shortages of certified workers.