Form of words:
New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told the Lok Sabha on Friday that nineteen states/UTs have informed the government that there is no case of COVID death due to lack of oxygen during the second wave.
The minister said that after repeated communication to the states to share information about the Covid deaths due to lack of oxygen during the second deadly wave of the pandemic, only Punjab said that there were four “suspected deaths” in the state, Those they were investigating, the minister said.
Mandaviya was responding to a question on the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the country due to lack of oxygen.
During the second wave, the central government came under attack Opposition to what he described as mismanagement of the pandemic. As the huge number of infections hit India’s medical infrastructure, there were reports Patients from across India allegedly died due to non-availability of essential oxygen supply or due to running out of gas in hospitals.
According to Mandaviya, politics was done on the deaths of Kovid due to lack of oxygen.
19 States/Union Territories Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand Huh. Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Read also: No deaths due to lack of oxygen reported by states, UTs in second wave, says Center
‘No room for oxygen’
“Every state was asked to report oxygen deficiency-related deaths”, Mandaviya said.
“We had written to all the states asking for the data. Even the Prime Minister said that there was no need to hide the death of Kovid and that the states should be informed. Between July 13 and July 30, we had written letters thrice,” said the health minister.
“But only Punjab has given in writing that there have been four suspicious deaths in the state and they are under investigation,” he said.
Making a special mention of Delhi, Mandaviya said, “Despite the work being done by the Center to increase the production of oxygen in the country during the second wave, I also noticed that there were tankers moving around in Delhi, but there was no place to empty the oxygen.” There were other places which needed oxygen but didn’t get it… politics was done on oxygen and the center was blamed.
The health minister then tried to explain to the Lok Sabha how the central government worked to increase the production of oxygen in the country during the second wave.
“We arranged tankers to carry oxygen from one part of the country to another, we got special tankers from abroad, we used navy, we used air force planes to bring empty tankers immediately…. But We have seen how some states moved the court and showed high demand and others got orders to get more tankers in case they faced crisis,” Mandaviya said.
The Health Minister said that after the second wave, the Center also gave two Kovid packages of Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 23,000 crore to the states. Since then, states have been given guidelines on how to strengthen their health infrastructure.
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
Read also: How to supply medical oxygen to hospitals, and why India is facing acute shortage
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