PM vows all-out govt effort as oxygen, meds run short
2.59L cases in 1 day; next 3 weeks may be critical: Centre
On a day when India’s capital was staring at acute shortage of oxygen to breathe life into its citizens infected with Covid19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a special address to the nation, tried to infuse confidence in people saying the Centre is making efforts to meet the huge demand for medical oxygen.
“For some weeks, the situation was in control. Now the second wave has come like a hurricane. I am aware of the hardships you are facing. I extend my condolences to those who have lost a loved one. The challenge is big but we must cross this with determination and preparedness… There is a huge demand for oxygen. The Centre along with the state governments is trying to ensure availability to all who need oxygen and we are also ramping up production of medical oxygen,” the PM said.
India on Tuesday reported 2.59 lakh new cases of Covid-19 and 1,761 deaths.
With a war-like situation out there, people have been pleading on social media for hospital
There is a huge demand for oxygen. The Centre along with the state governments is trying to ensure availability to all who need oxygen and we are also ramping up production of medical oxygen
— PM Modi
beds, medicine, plasma and oxygen. Thousands are in hospitals and an equal number of them are struggling to get a hospital bed.
Exhausted doctors and nurses too are getting infected as additional load on the already weak Indian healthcare system is now shaking the entire eco-system.
Indian armed forces have called their retired doctors to help deal with the pandemic but that is not enough. Despite claims by the government of availability of medicines, the fact remains that even basic medicines needed for Covid infection are missing from chemist shops.
Several states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are facing shortage of oxygen and putting pressure on the Union government to make immediate arrangements.
On Tuesday, while Delhi hospitals had 8-9 hours of oxygen left, Maharashtra was gasping for breath with just three-four hours’ supplies left.
Facing flak for not doing enough, Mr Modi in his speech listed out some efforts that his government is making to ramp up the healthcare system and medical supplies. He said the country is better placed today compared to last year. He added vaccination has been opened up for the entire adult population and efforts are on to vaccinate migrant workers in their place of work so that they do not need to flee cities. He added medicine production at this time is much higher than what it was in January-February. The PM, during an interaction with the Indian vaccine manufacturers, urged to scale up the production capacity.
Expressing concern over the “worrying scenario” in the country, the Centre has said next three weeks are critical for Covid response measures and asked Union Territories to plan in advance for these three weeks.
Union health and home secretaries held a meeting to review and discuss the management and response strategy with chief secretaries of all the Union Territories. Delhi discussed shortage of beds while Ladakh, J&K and Lakshadweep pointed to the rise in cases due to large numbers of inbound travelers for which the home secretary recommended regulation of incoming labourers and supervised containment.
All AIIMS across the country have increased their number of oxygen supported beds as well as ICU beds with ventilators, yet people are facing shortage of beds.