The right to breathe
The oxygen crisis has entered its third week. Show the will, address the shortage
The oxygen crisis in India’s national capital has now entered its third week. On a daily basis, hospitals are left to wonder whether or not their next replenishments will arrive on time, with some even asking patients to keep personal back-ups ready. Hundreds gather outside gurudwaras, reach out to charitable organisations or call fly-by-night black marketers in the hope of refilling their cylinders. The desperation is visible on social media, where pleas for help, particularly for hospital beds, oxygen and medicines, have exploded since mid-April. Dozens have died due to oxygen shortage. Courts have weighed in, issued orders, and even threats, but there is little improvement in the situation compared to April 20, when the crisis first came into focus.
Depending on whom you ask, the blame lies on an unending list of problems — inadequate production, lack of transport, bad coordination and political partisanship. The culpability, going by recent statements and court submissions by the Centre, Delhi government and neighbouring states, at once lies on all of them and none of them. But it is the people who are paying the price. The Union government has said Delhi did not make adequate logistical arrangements in time; the city’s administration has said the allocation itself was too little, and Delhi’s neighbours — accused of impeding the quota the Capital is due — have simply sought to deny, deflect or discredit any talk of their culpability. Officials may indeed be working to mitigate the crisis, but as long as leaders devote more time to controlling the narrative, the best of efforts are unlikely to address the scale of the problem.
None of the factors contributing to the crisis are insurmountable. For example, after the Delhi High Court threatened the Union government with contempt proceedings if it did not dispatch the full share of Delhi’s 490MT of liquid oxygen by midnight on Saturday, the Capital received 445MT — the highest it has ever received in a day since the crisis began. There is a possibility that this shipment may have been at the cost of deliveries to another state, but it demonstrates the ability of governments to deliver once the stakes are raised. In this context, a series of directions issued by the Supreme Court in an order uploaded late on Sunday may finally lead to more decisive steps to alleviate the oxygen shortage. But for that, politicians — especially those in the central government — have to prioritise Delhi’s right to breathe.