Lucknow, Jun 9 (DC): Five elderly patients have died in the ICU of the Lala Lajpat Rai hospital in Kanpur after the air-conditioning system stopped working.

Relatives of the deceased alleged their condition deteriorated after the AC stopped working and though the hospital staff opened the doors and windows, their condition did not improve.

Dr Navneet Kumar, the principal of the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College, under which the hospital functions, however said the patients died due to serious illness and not because of AC failure. “There were problems in the AC plant on Thursday. The problems were fixed, but they again cropped up. The ICU has serious patients but none died due to AC failure,” he said. Dr Saurav Agarwal, ICU in-charge, said although it was hot inside, life-saving machines like ventilators and monitors were not affected and were working properly. Only the AC became defective.”

UP health minister Siddhartha Nath Singh said he was apprised of the matter and said those responsible for the deaths would not be spared.

This incident is strongly reminiscent of the deaths of children in BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, due to disruption of oxygen supply, in August last year.