Karnataka Covid patients choke as oxygen supply gets scarce

KEY STORY

• “We saw it happen in Italy, Spain and the UK, but never thought we would see a day like this in Bengaluru,” said a 59-year-old former principal with tears in his eyes as he was asked to immediately get discharged from a private hospital, as they lacked a bed with oxygen facility.

• This seems to be the norm at most hospitals in the state. The demand for medical oxygen has reached its peak as the number of critical patients has risen.

• Most private hospitals witnessed a grim situation on Saturday, with hospital owners and doctors helplessly trying to convince patients to move to other facilities. Some put out video messages on social media requesting the State Government to immediately arrange for medical oxygen.

• Dr Vijay Raghav Reddy of Swastik Hospital, in a video, said, “I will be forced to shift all nine patients by evening… But I don’t even know where to shift them as all places are running out of oxygen. We may soon see people die due to lack of oxygen.”

• At many hospitals, the sole criterion for admitting patients was the oxygen saturation level, which decided whether they get a bed or not.

• Though Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar has been saying that the state has enough oxygen facilities, the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association (PHANA) has written to him, pointing to an acute shortage of medical-grade oxygen and zero stock at some hospitals.

• Patients dying in hospitals or ambulances without oxygen are being reported. Last week, two patients died due to non-availability of oxygen in and ambulance and beds in two hospitals in the city.

• PHANA president Dr Prasanna H M said the manufacturers have either stopped supply or are not responding to demands for more stock.

• The association warned that the situation is alarming with hospitals being nearly full with government-referred and privately-admitted patients and the number of patients needing life-saving oxygen support shooting up.

• A senior manager from oxygen manufacturer Air Water India said, “There is no problem with production. We produce up to 100 tonnes of medical oxygen per day.

CONCLUSION

• The problem is we have about 40 customers and all of them are big hospitals. Of late, there has been an increase in the number of dealers who supply oxygen to smaller hospitals.

• But they have run out of oxygen now due to huge demand and they don’t have the production capacity.”

• Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar, however, rubbished claims that there is a shortage of oxygen in the state.

• Also, Additional Chief Secretary, Health Department, Jawaid Akthar, promised PHANA that the government would look into the issue and ensure that medical oxygen is supplied, said Dr Prasanna.