'Centre never sought oxygen death data from states'

Chhattisgarh Health Minister alleged that the central govt never sought data on deaths due to lack of oxygen from states

While the Centre recently argued in the Rajya Sabha that no states or UTs have specifically reported on deaths due to the shortage of oxygen, two Congress-ruled states have rejected the claims.

Hospitals pleading for oxygen, social media platforms flooded with SOS calls, and Covid positive patients standing in queues to fill their cylinders -- the second coronavirus wave wreaked havoc in the country. However, the recently-appointed Minister of State for Health, Bharati Pawar, argued that "no deaths due to lack of oxygen has been specifically reported by states/UTs"

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The question remained whether the Centre asked states and UTs to submit relevant data on oxygen-related deaths. In a series of tweets, Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo referring to the "gory visuals can't be forgotten" alleged that the central government never sought data on deaths due to lack of oxygen from states.

"They asked for the number of deaths on a day, deaths with comorbidity, deaths without comorbidity, type of comorbidity... GOI deliberately MISLEAD THE PARLIAMENT without checking with states," Deo tweeted.

Another Congress-ruled state, Rajasthan, echoed Deo's statements. Health Minister Raghu Sharma was quoted as saying that majority of deaths during the second wave of the pandemic were due to oxygen shortage.

'Oxygen crisis'

Delhi resident Padam Kalla, who lost his father to the virus, recounting the horrors of the oxygen crisis in the national capital said that he had to arrange four to five cylinders per day, which cost him Rs 40,000-50,000 per cylinder in the black market.

"Delhi faced an acute shortage of oxygen.. being Covid-19 positive myself, I stood for over 14 hours to refill an oxygen cylinder, there was no help available," Kalla told DH.

In Karnataka's Chamarajanagar, where 36 Covid-19 patients died due to oxygen shortage in early May triggering sharp reactions from the Opposition, the family members of the deceased persons are still waiting to receive the promised compensation.