No deaths due to shortage of O2: Goa minister in assembly
No one died at the Goa Medical College (GMC) due to oxygen shortage and the hospital never ran out of supplies, state health minister Vishwajit Rane told the assembly on Friday, contradicting his previous comments and the administration’s submissions in the high court.
Rane’s statement came in a written reply to Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat who sought to know the details of the total number of deaths of Covid patients who died in GMC due to shortage of oxygen.
“At no point in time, the oxygen supplies at GMC ran out of stock and thus, no death has been reported to have caused due to non supply of oxygen,” Rane said in a written reply.
The response comes days after the central government told Parliament that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were “specifically reported” by states or Union territories, triggering an uproar.
At the height of the second wave of Covid in May, at least 83 people died over five days at the premier hospital due to a drop in oxygen pressure between 2 am and 6 am every day – a period later referred to by the high court as the “dark hours”. At the time, every second person being tested for the virus in Goa was
PANAJI:
The deaths at the hospital had prompted the HC to sharply criticise the government’s handling of the crisis
returning a positive result.
The deaths prompted the Bombay high court at Goa to take up the case and sharply criticise the government’s handling of the crisis at the hospital.
In its submissions, the government had pointed to logistical problems in the supply of oxygen to some Covid wards, and said on May 13,“some deaths may have taken place due to fall of pressure in the supply lines of oxygen to the patients.”
“There were logistical issues involved in maneuvering the tractor which carries the trolleys of oxygen and in connecting the cylinders to the manifold. During this process there was some interruption, which resulted in a fall of pressure in the supply lines of oxygen to the patients. It is basically on account of these factors some casualties may have taken place,” the state government said in an affidavit filed by health secretary Ravi Dhawan on May 13.
GMC dean Shivanand Bandekar also told the court on May 12 that the hospital was facing a shortage of 6.5 metric tonne (MT) of oxygen per day, and that supply was not being augmented.
At the time, GMC was handling more patients than its bed capacity. Authorities delivered oxygen in two ways – 700 regular beds through a central pipeline, and 250 additional beds set up during the pandemic by loose cylinders that needed to be replaced and refilled.
On May 11, health minister Rane first flagged the issue of dropping oxygen pressure levels and called for a probe into the deaths. On May 12, the high court rejected the government’s submission that logistical problems with tractors caused the crisis.
Opposition parties on Friday were quick to pick on the Goa government for its claim.
“Whether it’s rape victims or #COVID19 victims, the trauma never ends from this @Drpramodpsawant’s @Govtofgoa. Real #Goemkars (Goans) died, @visrane (Vishwajit Rane)! In #Goa. If you don’t feel any respect or sympathy towards their grieving families, at least pretend!” Goa Forward president Vijai Sardesai tweeted.
HT reached out to Rane for a comment but did not get any response immediately.