The Indian health ministry has said the states have not provided any information on deaths of Covid patients in hospitals due to lack of oxygen which was rampant during the virulent second wave of Covid in India in April-May this year. With a number of deaths due to oxygen shortage making headlines during the second wave, especially in Delhi, the matter drew sharp criticism from the opposition in parliament.

"However, no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by states and UTs," said Minister of State for Health Bharati Praveen Pawar, responding to the question on whether Covid patients died on roads and hospitals due to oxygen shortage.

In Goa, more than 80 people died at a state-run medical facility over five days in May. In Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh,  11 Covid patients who were at the ICU of a hospital died after the supply of medical oxygen was disrupted.  At a hospital in Hyderabad, seven patients died at government hospital during a two-hour cut in oxygen supply, NDTV said.

In most places the authorities have denied that the deaths took place due to oxygen shortage.

Last month the central government had vetoed an investigation ordered by the Delhi government into the deaths caused by a lack of oxygen supply. At one hospital in Delhi, 21 patients died due to oxygen shortage and the matter is pending in the High Court.

"This is a blind and unconcerned government. People have seen how many of their near and dear ones have died because of lack of oxygen," said KC Venugopal of the opposition Congress party. 

Even in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya defended the government on the issue of high death figures in the second wave and said it was the states that were in charge of registering and providing death figures.

Concern over the deaths had been widespread with the virus ripping through the countryside this summer. Images of mass graves on the sandbanks of Ganga in north India, and thousands of bodies floating down the river, has created a perception that the real figure of deaths in the second wave will never be known, NDTV said. 

The government put up a strong defence of its handling of the Covid pandemic saying that despite hurdles, the country had tackled the crisis at home and also helped the world. Acknowledging the large number of fatalities, Minister  Mandaviya, who recently took charge of the health ministry after Modi sacked his predecessor, Dr Harsh Varhdan, however, said the deaths must not be blamed on any one person.

He said India did not have a single laboratory to test Covid at the beginning of the pandemic. Neither did the country have the capacity to manufacture PPE kits. The necessary facilities were built up only subsequently, he said, justifying the months-long lockdown imposed on the country.

The minister also expressed pride in India's service to the world at a time of such crisis.

"Not only did we build the entire infrastructure, but when the world needed medicines like hydroxychloroquine, we sent it to over 123 countries. Even the President of the US acknowledged the help from India," he added. 

"We accept there have been deaths due to Covid. The Prime Minister himself has said deaths must be recorded. There is absolutely no reason to hide this...But to blame all deaths on one person is not the right thing to do," he said. (SAM)