Aligarh, Apr 23 (IANS): As many as five Covid patients lost their lives at a private hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh in the wee hours of Thursday.

Their families have alleged that they died due to lack of oxygen support and negligence of the hospital.

The District Magistrate, Chandra Bhushan Singh, has ordered an inquiry even as the hospital administration claimed that the patients' condition was already critical and they succumbed to the infection.

Singh has asked the sub-divisional magistrate to inquire into the deaths and submit a report within three days.

He told reporters that further action will be taken on the basis of the report.

According to officials, five patients - mainly in their fifties - died within 24 hours at the hospital.

One of the deceased patient's son alleged that his mother was fine till 8 pm on Wednesday and suddenly he was informed that the hospital was running out of oxygen.

"We had arranged the cylinder and by the time we could reach the hospital, she died," he said, adding that he had given this to the district magistrate in writing.

SJD hospital's Covid unit in charge, Sanjeev Sharma, claimed that the deaths were not due to lack of oxygen.

He said, "All these patients were admitted in a critical condition after being infected by Covid-19. Their lungs were not functioning and so they were on oxygen support."

He added that oxygen was available in the hospital.

Aligarh city magistrate Vineet Kumar Singh said that they had received a call from the hospital around 9:43 pm and within 45 minutes, 40 cylinders were dropped at the hospital.