Not a single death in Maharashtra due to lack of oxygen, says Health Minister Rajesh Tope

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Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday informed that not a single death was reported in the state due to lack of oxygen.

"Not a single patient has died due to lack of oxygen during the peak of Covid-19 in Maharashtra. Proper management of oxygen was done, always. Even at the time when about 65,000 patients were in Maharashtra, oxygen was properly arranged and provided to the patients. By the grace of God, nobody died due to lack of oxygen in the state," Tope told reporters.

"We had diverted 100 per cent oxygen meant for industrial use for medical purposes. The amount of liquid medical oxygen required in Maharashtra was being manufactured in the state as well supplied by other states. There was proper oxygen management in the state", he said.

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

However, shortage of medical oxygen had plagued Maharashtra during the month of April. Several hospitals from across the state had raised alarm over the non-availability of oxygen tankers for the treatment of coronavirus patients.

On April 27, at least 12 Covid-19 patients admitted to the ICU of a private hospital in Thane city were shifted to other hospitals in view of depleting oxygen stock at the medical facility, a doctor said.

The Bhagwati Hospital in Borivli was one of the first medical facilities scrambling for oxygen. It had moved close to 44 patients to hospitals that had oxygen.

These are two of the many oxygen shortage-related incidents that unfolded in the state during the second wave.

Maharashtra reported 8,159 new Covid-19 cases and 165 fresh fatalities on Wednesday, taking the infection tally to 62,37,755. A health department official said Maharashtra's Covid-19 death toll stands at over 1 lakh 30 thousand.

In a written reply to Congress MP KC Venugopal on whether a large number of Covid-19 patients died on roads and hospitals due to acute shortage of oxygen in the second wave, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar had pointed out that health is a state subject and accordingly all states/UTs report cases and deaths to the Union Health Ministry on a regular basis.

She also stated that the Government of India has supported the states and undertook a series of actions including provisioning medical oxygen.

Dr Pawar also highlighted that the medical oxygen demand in the country during the second wave peaked at nearly 9,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) as compared to 3,095 MT during the first wave.

With inputs from mid-day correspondents

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