Health expert endorses Centre's 'no death due to oxygen shortage' claim

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Dr Giridhar Gyani, Director General of Association of Health Care Providers (AHCP-INDIA), endorsed the central government's claim which said no death occurred due to shortage of oxygen in India.

New Delhi: Following a major controversy over Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandavaya's claim that no death occurred due to shortage of oxygen in India, Director General of Association of Health Care Providers (AHCP-INDIA) Dr Giridhar Gyani on Wednesday endorsed the statement and said that no state in the country reported such deaths.

"There is nothing wrong in the statement of the Health Minister because no states in India officially reported to the Centre that deaths took place due to shortage of oxygen," Dr Gyani told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview in New Delhi. Dr Gyani said that when a minister makes any statement on the floor of the House, he or she goes by the evidence available in his or her hand.

"In this case, no state government has reported to the Centre that fatalities took place due to shortage of oxygen," said Dr Gyani and added, "Health being a state subject, the centre endorses the reports being sent from the States."

Mandaviya has told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that health infrastructure in the country was sustained due to a steep rise in Covid-19 cases during the months of April and May. "Although health is a state subject, the government of India has supported the states and undertook a series of activities including further strengthening of existing health infrastructure to ensure provisioning of sufficient hospital beds, drugs, medical oxygen and other consumable to aid proper clinical care of Covid-19 patients," he has said.

He further said, "States have at times reported backlog death in case of late reporting from hospitals and districts but no such reports of patients dying due to shortage of oxygen and lack of hospital facilities in the country have been received by the ministry from any States and UTs."

Following the statement, opposition parties may it the Congress has attacked the central government both inside and outside of the Parliament. In Delhi, Aam Admi Party (AAP) took to social media to vehemently criticise the government.

Referring to the development that was raised due to the statement, Dr Gyani, however, said that different parties are trying to politicise the issue. "Health being a state subject, it was the duty of the Stage government to report to the Centre if any deaths took place due to shortage of oxygen," he said.

However, this was a fact that States and UTs across the country faced a huge shortage of oxygen when the country was fighting against the second wave of the pandemic. The health ministry has also admitted that due to an unprecedented surge in demand for 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.