India: Oxygen shortage in Maharashtra as COVID cases soar | Al Jazeera

When COVID-19 struck Karamsingh Pawar, a tribal activist from Nandurbar district in northwestern Maharashtra, it took him 48 hours to get a hospital bed with oxygen support.

After the 55-year-old was admitted into the government-run COVID-19 centre, he had to spend half a day in the corridor before being shifted to a bed on April 11.

By then, his oxygen saturation was dangerously low and he succumbed the next day. “He was severely breathless by the time he was put on oxygen support,” Pawar’s son-in-law Prabhakar Thakare told Al Jazeera over the phone.

As Maharashtra, India’s richest state, grapples with ferociously rising COVID-19 cases, patients such as Pawar are struggling to find hospital beds and oxygen support. The state’s daily oxygen usage has touched 1,500 metric tonnes, according to Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

This is much more than its daily production of 1,250 tonnes. While other states are contributing to plug the shortfall, transportation by road takes time. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has now requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deploy the National Disaster Management Authority to airlift oxygen for rapid movement.
10,000 ‘active cases’

Nandurbar, 450km (220 miles) away from financial capital Mumbai, is a tribal-dominated and acute malnutrition-hit district with poor healthcare infrastructure and difficult hilly terrain. As the virus spreads rapidly in such remote areas, Maharashtra stares at a greater challenge in arresting the continuing second wave of the pandemic.

“In the first wave, our active cases hovered around 300 to 500,” said Dr Nitin Bodke, district health officer of Nandurbar. “This time, the active cases have shot up to 10,000.”

The district currently has about 1,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, including 400 with oxygen and intensive care support. To tackle the shortage, the district is set to open a 21-coach train modified into an isolation centre for victims.

The train will add 336 beds to the pool. Last year, more than 300 coaches were modified by Indian Railways and kept on standby. “Nandurbar was the first district to requisition the coaches,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer of Western Railway.....Al Jazeera

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• Angry relatives stormed two hospitals at Nalla Sopara in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on Tuesday after at least 11 Covid-19 patients died on Monday night allegedly due to oxygen shortage. The authorities, however, insisted there was no shortage.

“We thought my father would recover but he died because of a lack of oxygen supply... the hospital gave us false assurances,” said Rahul Verma, whose father, Ram Babu, 52, died on Monday. He added his father had a heart disease and was admitted to the Vinayaka Hospital for seven days for Covid-19 treatment.

Rajendra Kamble, a police officer, said there were deaths at the two hospitals — Vinayaka Hospital and Riddhi Vinayak Hospital — but insisted they were not due to the shortage. He added the 11 patients were in critical condition. “...the hospitals had three oxygen cylinders functional, and we are investigating the matter,” said Kamble.

Earlier on Monday, an audio message of Rajiv Patil, the mayor of Palghar’s Vasai, purportedly highlighting a severe shortage of oxygen needed for patients was widely shared on social media.

Patil confirmed the authenticity of the message, and appealed to the state government to solve the matter.

Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVMC) health department, too, maintained the deaths had nothing to do with the oxygen shortage. Ganesh Patil,VVMC’s public relations officer, said the Vinayaka Hospital received 139 jumbo oxygen cylinders and one dura cylinder (of 28 jumbo cylinder capacity) on Sunday.

Riddhi Vinayak Hospital also Sunday received around 50 jumbo cylinders and 60 on Monday, according to Ganesh Patil. A total of 110 jumbo cylinders were there for patients, he added....https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/maharashtra-11-die-amid-oxygen-shortage-reports-kin-vandalise-hospitals-101618310321697.html.