'No death during second COVID wave due to oxygen shortage,' claims new MoS Health Pawar

The government informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the states and union territories have not recorded any death due to the oxygen crisis during the second wave of the COVID pandemic. However, the demand for medical oxygen surged from 3,095 MT to 9,000 MT as compared to the first wave of COVID. As a result of the oxygen crisis across the country, the government had to step in and facilitate the equal distribution of medical oxygen.

Minister of State for Health, Bharati Pravin Pawar, was also asked about the situation when a large number of patients died on roads and hospitals due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of COVID. To which, she answered that health is a state subject and states and UTs regularly report the number of cases and deaths to the Centre.

Pawar said, "Detailed guidelines for reporting of deaths have been issued by the Union Health Ministry to all states and UTs.

Further, she added in a 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 UTs."

Steps were taken by the government to fulfil the demand for medical oxygen

Pawar said that the Government of India has supported the states and took various actions for providing medical oxygen and other medical facilities to states and union territories. On-demand of oxygen by the states and total oxygen supplied, the ministry said that the supply of medical oxygen to hospitals is determined by contractual arrangements between the hospitals and the medical oxygen supplier concerned.

The allocation of medical oxygen and other facilities kept on changing according to the changing pandemic load in the country. Pawar said that the first allocation order was issued on April 15, 2021, and revised from time to time, based on the trends of active cases and supply positions. A total allocation of 10,250 MT has been done to 26 states as of May 28, 2021. The GOI also enhanced the liquid medical oxygen (LMO) production from 5,700 MTs in August 2020 to 9690 MTs in May 2021, restrictions have been imposed on industrial use of oxygen; and augmentation of availability of containers.

Also, online digital solutions viz. Oxygen Demand Aggregation system (ODAS) and Oxygen Digital Tracking System (ODTS) have been developed to ascertain the demand for medical oxygen from all medical facilities and to track their transportation. The states were also provided with oxygen equipment such as oxygen cylinders, concentrators, and Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants. A total of 4,02,517 oxygen cylinders have been procured and distributed to the states. As many as 1,222 PSA Oxygen generation plants have been sanctioned. Out of these, as of July 15, 2021, 237 plants have been commissioned. Apart from this, 295 PSA plants are being installed by different ministries, the minister said.

Pawar said, "However, due to unprecedented surge in demand of medical oxygen during the second wave – the demand in the country peaked to nearly 9000 MT as compared to 3095 MT during the first wave – the central government had to step in to facilitate equitable distribution to the states.

She added,"A dynamic and transparent framework for allocation of medical oxygen in consultation with states and UTs and all the stakeholders such as relevant ministries, manufacturers/suppliers of liquid oxygen, etc. was prepared."

Even after a major reshuffle in the Union Cabinet, the Central Government has now taken another huge step towards health infrastructure by announcing a Rs 23,123 crore package for improving the healthcare system of the country to fight COVID-19. The decision was taken on July 8 in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was the phase 2 announcement of the 'India COVID-19 Emergency Response & Health System Preparedness Package'.

(with PTI inputs)

(IMAGE: PTI)