‘Greater tragedy likely to unfold’: Former Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy writes to PM Modi on oxygen crisis

Hospitals in several parts of Karnataka, including the capital city of Bengaluru, have raised concerns over the gaps in oxygen supply. Some hospitals in Kalaburagi and Belagavi are telling patients to bring their own oxygen cylinders, according to news agency PTI.

Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday sought urgent intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the shortage of oxygen in the state which could jeopardise the treatment of critical coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients. In a letter to PM Modi, Kumaraswamy cited the Chamarajanagar tragedy where 24 people died due to an alleged shortage of oxygen at a government hospital in the Chamarajanagar district on Monday.

Kumaraswamy informed Modi that Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts require 70 tonnes of oxygen on a daily basis due to their volume of cases and severity of infections.

“This morning, four more deaths were reported due to a similar shortage from a hospital in the Gulbarga district. The two districts are at opposite ends of the state. Deaths in both districts were preventable.” the Janata Dal (Secular) leader wrote.

Kumaraswamy said there is panic enveloping other districts of Karnataka following these two incidents, adding that some hospitals in Bengaluru city have been ‘frantically’ messaging about the end of their oxygen supplies since Tuesday morning.

Hospitals in several parts of Karnataka, including the capital city of Bengaluru, have raised concerns over the gaps in oxygen supply. Some hospitals in Kalaburagi and Belagavi are telling patients to bring their own oxygen cylinders, according to news agency PTI. An executive of the Chaitanya Medical Centre in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, told PTI that there was a crisis of the life-saving gas in the facility on Monday because of which patients had to be shifted to other hospitals.

The former chief minister informed Prime Minister Modi that Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts require 70 tonnes of oxygen on a daily basis due to their volume of cases and severity of infections but have managed to only procure an average of 20 tonnes per day.

“The inputs I have been personally receiving from people across the state and more specifically from districts like Tumkur, Belgaum, Dharwad and Hassan are alarming and indicative of a crisis that is fast expanding,” Kumaraswamy wrote.

He warned that a greater tragedy is likely to unfold in Karnataka if the state administration does not act briskly and does not receive support from the central government.

Karnataka’s Covid-19 caseload is nearing the 1.7 million mark which includes 16,538 deaths, 1,210,013 recoveries and 464,363 active cases, according to the health department’s bulletin. As many as 44,631 cases were reported on Tuesday while 292 people succumbed to the disease and 24,714 were discharged, the bulletin showed.