The central government on Tuesday wrote to the states and sought data on the number of deaths that took place due to lack of oxygen during the second Covid-19 wave.
The data will be collated and presented in Parliament before the monsoon session ends on August 13.
Responding to a question on the acute shortage of oxygen during the second wave of the pandemic, the Health Ministry had said in Rajya Sabha last week that “no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by States and Union Territories.”
Minister of State, Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar in response to the question said that oxygen supply to hospitals is determined by contractual arrangements between the hospitals and the medical oxygen supplier.“Due to the unprecedented surge in demand of medical oxygen during the second wave — the demand in the country peaked to nearly 9,000 MT as compared to 3,095 MT during the first wave — the Centre had to step in to facilitate equitable distribution to the States,” she had said.
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Source: News18