Gujarat oxygen crisis killed more than Covid-19 did in 3 days, says Congress

The Congress on Tuesday claimed that more people died due to oxygen shortage than due to coronavirus infection in Gujarat in the last three days.

The ruling BJP denied the allegation and said there was enough medical oxygen and more will be made avaialble.

Talking to reporters, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda sought registration of an FIR against the "rulers".

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"This is a man-made and government-made disaster. Urgent steps must be taken to restore adequate supply of oxygen to hospitals.

"People are dying because of apathy and mismanagement of the government. A case of culpable homicide must be lodged against the rulers," he said.

The government had assigned district collectors the responsibility of ensuring oxygen supply to hospitals, but hospital owners and relatives of patients are forced to stand in queues to get oxygen cylinders, he said.

"Due to such mismanagement and wrong policies of those in power, 66 Covid-19 patients have died in the last three days because of oxygen shortage. More patients have died due to oxygen shortage than due to coronavirus," Chavda claimed.

Gujarat has several industrial units which produce industrial oxygen, but the state government did not give permission to use these plants to produce medical oxygen, he alleged.

People are forced to buy Remdesivir in black market because the state government sent the stock produced by Gujarat-based companies to other states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the Congress leader alleged.

Responding to the allegations, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsing Jadeja said the Congress was "power hungry" and was misleading people.

"While the government is working tirelessly to save people's lives, the Congress, instead of helping people, is indulging in low-level politics. Allegations levelled by Chavda are baseless and unfounded," Jadeja said in a statement.

"From 41,000 hospital beds on March 15, we now have over 93,000 beds across Gujarat. The BJP government distributed five lakh Remdesivir injections in April alone. Adequate oxygen is available and we have already planned to set up 11 PSA oxygen plants in near future," he added.

Gujarat on Tuesday reported its highest daily spike of 14,352 coronavirus cases and a record 170 deaths.