In the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament today, December 3, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stated that out of all the states and Union Territories, only Punjab reported four suspected deaths due to oxygen shortage in the second wave of the COVID19.
“We had written to all states asking for data on COVID19 deaths. A total of 19 states responded. Only Punjab in writing said that four suspected deaths have happened in its state,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said while answering a question pertaining to the COVID19 deaths due to the alleged oxygen shortage in the country.
These 19 states and Union Territories include: Andaman and Nicobar, Dadar and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Tripura, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh.
Mandaviya was replying to the Opposition which had targeted the central government for not revealing the actual number of COVID19 deaths in the country during the second wave of the pandemic.
“Why didn’t the central government take steps to solve the crisis of oxygen shortage in the country during the second wave of COVID19,” Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra’s Chandrapur Balubhau Dhanorkar of the Congress party had asked the health minister.
The Union Health Minister came down heavily on state governments alleging that they have played politics on the issue of the alleged oxygen unavailability during the second wave of COVID19. He also informed the Parliament that the country has increased its oxygen production during the second wave.
“I want to inform you that earlier, there was an average requirement of 900-1000 metric tonnes of oxygen per day in the country. In the first wave, it increased to 1,400 metric tonnes. During the second wave, the demand surged to 9,500 metric tonnes,” said Mandaviya.
“We have taken all measures to meet the oxygen requirements. We have deployed trains, Navy, Air Force, to make arrangements for oxygen requirements,” he added, urging the states to not play politics on the oxygen availability and COVID19 deaths during the second wave.
