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Kerala Kaumudi Online
Thursday, 28 March 2024 1.47 PM IST

Escape from reality

oxygen-

By the time the second wave of Covid intesified, hospitals were running out of oxygen and many patients were dying due to it. It took the continuous intervention of the high courts to rectify the situation. Oxygen shortages were somehow alleviated by immediate imports from abroad. The centre has been widely blamed for the unusual oxygen shortages faced by hospitals. Central assistance was provided to set up new plants in each district to facilitate oxygen availability. The money from the Prime Minister's Fund was used for this. In the face of these facts, the Centre came to Parliament on Tuesday with a statement that no reports have been received from the state governments that Kovid patients have died due to lack of oxygen anywhere in the country. The central government, which has already been accused of not providing accurate figures on Covid deaths in the country, has misled the country by giving completely false information on the oxygen shortage issue.

A statement from the Centre in the Rajya Sabha said that no Covid patient had died due to lack of oxygen. This is only technically correct. Because the cause of death can only be found as Covid in the documents. No hospital in the country will record that death occured due to lack of oxygen. Moreover, the health department has been prosecuted in many states for serious omissions in even issuing accurate death certificates. There is also the strong allegation that the actual deaths were concealed or not recorded. According to some foreign study groups, at least 5 million people in India may have already died of Covid. It is an undeniable fact that many people in the country had to succumb to death during the second wave of Covid. Had the Supreme Court and the High Court not intervened in a timely manner, the situation would have worsened. Nothing is going to be gained by hiding all this. People need to know the truth in a country where democracy prevails. It is a well - known fact that oxygen deprivation is caused by the failure of the government. That is why wartime measures were taken to combat shortage. Acknowledging the failures that occur at such stages will also empower you to overcome such situations effectively in the future. During the months of April and May, the Covid spread was unprecedented in the country. We had to work very hard to deal with it. The people have often seen pictures of relatives of patients rushing and queuing for oxygen, and of relatives crumbling as they receive the bodies of those who have died due to oxygen shortage. With that in mind, the discovery that no one has died without access to oxygen is an escape from reality.

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