Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Maha govt and Centre trade barbs over oxygen supply Civic body forced to move patients due to oxygen shortage
MUMBAI: After a face-off over shortage of vaccine doses, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre locked horns again on Saturday, this time over the inadequate supply of medical oxygen and anti-viral drug Remdesivir.
State minority affairs minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said chief minister Thackeray tried to contact Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone to take up the shortage of oxygen and Remdesivir but was told that the PM is on a West Bengal tour. Thackeray confirmed this later. The Prime Minister’s Office refuted the allegations, saying that PM Modi himself reviewed the situation of oxygen supply on Friday and the Centre is in constant touch with state governments.
“There are queues outside the crematoriums; hospitals are struggling to save the lives of patients as there is a shortage of oxygen supply. Yesterday patients had to be shifted from a few BMC-run hospitals in Mumbai due to oxygen shortage. The Centre has created this chaoslike situation. The chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) was trying to contact PM Modi on the phone but was informed that the Prime Minister is on a Bengal tour,” Malik told reporters here.
“Nero was playing flute when Rome was burning, a similar situation has been created today as people are dying and the Prime Minister is busy in elections…,” he said. Malik alleged that the Centre has asked export firms not to give stock of remdesivir injections to Maharashtra, else they will have to face action. This is being done to create trouble for the state as it is being ruled by opposition parties Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, Malik said.
Later, Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan spoke to the chief minister on phone and assured adequate and uninterrupted supply of oxygen, health care infrastructure and medicines. He shared the information on his Twitter handle.
MUMBAI: In a first in the Covid-19 pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had to move 168 Covid patients admitted to various civic-run hospitals across the suburbs, including Bandra, Jogeshwari and Borivali to jumbo centres on account of a shortage of oxygen.
Put together, the 150 Covid-19 hospitals (private and government run) in Mumbai require 235 metric tones (mt) of oxygen. However, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said the city has been facing a shortage since the past two days, as vendors are reportedly facing a shortage of raw material.
“168 patients were safely shifted from Bhabha Hospital at Bandra, Bhabha Hospital at Kurla, Bhagwati Hospital at Borivli, Shatabdi Hospital at Govandi, M T Agarwal Hospital and Trauma Hospital at Jogeshwari as oxygen supply was affected at these hospitals, to jumbo centres,” the civic body said in a release on Saturday.
Pednekar, who visited many civic hospitals on Saturday to review the oxygen shortage, said
that oxygen capsule plants would be started at Shatabdi Hospital and Bhagwati Hospital.
“The production of oxygen was low due to lack of supply of raw materials. I have asked the administration to set up a liquid oxygen plant to have a permanent solution to these issues. Also, the process of starting an oxygen capsule plant at Shatabdi Hospital and Bhagwati Hospital will be starting. We are trying to keep the citizens of Mumbai safe, and the citizens should cooperate with the municipal administration without leaving their homes,” she said.