SALT: At least seven Covid-19 patients died on Saturday when a Jordanian hospital ran out of oxygen, triggering an outcry in the kingdom and forcing the health minister to resign.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II ordered the head of the state hospital in the town of Salt northwest of Amman to resign, state media reported, as hundreds of angry people gathered outside the hospital. “Between 6 and 7 this morning, oxygen ran out for nearly an hour at the hospital and this probably led to the deaths of six patients,” health minister Nazir Obeidat said.

The official Al-Mamlaka television channel later reported that a seventh patient had also died.

Obeidat, who travelled to the Al-Hussein New Salt Hospital after news of the tragedy broke, told reporters he was assuming “full moral responsibility” for what happened. “I have submitted my resignation to the prime minister,” he added.

Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh later told reporters he had accepted Obeidat’s resignation and that the hospital’s director had been sacked.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2021