Chief physician placed under house arrest after fatal oxygen malfunction at North Ossetian hospital

The chief physician of a North Ossetian emergency hospital has been placed under house arrest for two months in connection with the deaths of 11 coronavirus patients after an oxygen supply malfunction.

On Saturday, August 14, the state news agency TASS reported that a Vladikavkaz court had placed Vladimir Pliev, the head doctor at the city’s Republican Clinical Emergency Hospital, under house arrest pending trial.

Pliev was detained on August 10, in connection with a criminal case opened on charges of the fulfillment of works or rendering of services that do not meet safety standards. The North Ossetian Health Ministry later reported that it had allocated 800,000 rubles ($10,920) to the hospital in early July, following a request from the chief physician for funding to build a second oxygen supply line.

The incident in question took place on August 9, when an oxygen pipe burst underground, cutting off oxygen supply to the hospital’s intensive care unit and resulting in the deaths of coronavirus patients who were on ventilators. Initially, nine people were reported dead due to lack of oxygen, but medical workers confirmed two more deaths the next day. The North Ossetian authorities claim that the two deaths on August 10 were unrelated to the oxygen malfunction.