Govt reply vs ground reports: Were there no oxygen shortage-led Covid-19 deaths?

No deaths due to lack of oxygen were specifically reported by states and UTs during the second Covid19 wave the Narendra Modiled government claimed in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday the second day of the Monsoon session in Parliament The statement sparked censure from opposition leaders including Aam Aadmi Patryrsquos Satyendar Jain and Congressrsquos MK Venugopal who said the ministry was tabling wrong figures and misleading the houseResponding to a question on whether a large number of Covid19 patients had died on roads and hospitals due to an acute shortage of oxygen in the second wave Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar noted that health is a state subject and that states and UTs regularly report the number of cases and deaths to the CentreDetailed guidelines for reporting of deaths have been issued by the Union Health Ministry to all states and UTsrdquo Pawar said in a written reply Accordingly all states and UTs report cases and deaths to the Union Health Ministry on a regular basis However no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by states and UTsrdquoOn Wednesday Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut condemned the Union governmentrsquos claim Many people have died due to oxygen shortage in several states Those whose relatives Covid19 patients died due to oxygen shortage should take the Union government to court news agency PTI quoted Raut as saying In a video statement Delhi Deputy Minister Manish Sisodia said the Centre had backed out when the Delhi government said it wanted to establish a panel to probe deaths due to the oxygen crisisNotably hospitals from various parts of the country had reported deaths due to oxygen shortage during the brutally damaging second wave In fact Allahabad High Court on May 5 had said the death of Covid19 patients for nonsupply of oxygen is a criminal act ldquonot less than genociderdquoGround reports from the statesOn April 23 officials at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi had said twentyfive sickest Covid19 patients died amid a serious oxygen crisis that was unfolding in the national capital at the time Another eight Covid19 patients including a doctor died at Delhis Batra Hospital on the afternoon of May 1 again due to a shortage of medical oxygen at the facilityConsidering the death of the eight patients at Batra Hospital the high court said Water has gone above the head You Centre have to arrange everything now You have made the allocations You have to fulfil them Eight lives have been lost We cant shut our eyes to itAs many as 24 patients including 23 suffering from Covid19 died in Karnatakas Chamarajanagar due to alleged oxygen shortage in the district hospital between May 2 and 3 officials said Goarsquos apex government hospital the Goa Medical College reported as many as 75 deaths during the period of May 10 to May 14 due to oxygen mismanagementOfficial toll vs true deathsThrough the months of April and May the oxygen crisis had emerged as a severe national crisis which led to the kin of Covid19 patients resorting to social media in order to procure oxygen tanks or concentrators and oxygen beds in hospitalsNot just deaths from the lack of oxygen many experts believe the overall official death toll suffers from undercounting too Indiarsquos Covid19 deaths were likely 10 times the official toll a study by Arvind Subramanian former chief economic adviser to the Indian government and two other researchers at Washington DCbased think tank Center for Global Development and Harvard University saidThe official count could have missed deaths occurring in overwhelmed hospitals or while health care was delayed or disrupted especially during the devastating peak surge earlier this year the report observedldquoTrue deaths are likely to be in the several millions not hundreds of thousands making this arguably Indiarsquos worst human tragedy since Partition and independencerdquo according to the researchers who examined deaths from all causes and compared that data to mortality noted in previous years mdash a method that is widely considered an accurate metricDemand and supply for oxygenAcknowledging the severe increase in oxygen requirement the Centre on Tuesday said there was an unprecedented surge in demand for medical oxygen during the second wave and it peaked at nearly 9000 MT compared to 3095 MT in the first wave following which the Centre stepped in to facilitate equitable distribution among the statesThe active caseload of the state and UT was the primary determinant of oxygen allocation it said noting that a total of 10250 MT had been allotted to 26 high burden states as on May 28 2021With inputs from agenciesAlso Read Explained What are the Kappa and Lambda variants of Covid19 Should you be concerned