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Oxygen shortage will force many health centres to shut: Karnataka CM to PM Modi
Bengaluru After faltering for nearly four months in preparedness for the imminent second wave of coronavirus pandemic, as warned by the panel of experts on Covid-19 in state, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if the shortage of oxygen supply continued, then it would become inevitable to close down several health centres in the state
Bengaluru After faltering for nearly four months in preparedness for the imminent second wave of coronavirus pandemic, as warned by the panel of experts on Covid-19 in state, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if the shortage of oxygen supply continued, then it would become inevitable to close down several health centres in the state.
“The usage of oxygen in the state is going up on a daily basis and yesterday 500 tonnes were used. The Centre has distributed only 300 tonnes to the state. If the same continues, we will be in a situation to close down several health centres,” according to a statement by the chief minister’s office (CMO).
PM Modi on Friday held a review meeting with several Covid-19 impacted states in the country, including Karnataka that has seen a sharp spike in cases on account of the surge in Bengaluru.
Karnataka has over 2 lakh active cases, with Bengaluru accounting for more than half of these, according to government data. Both the state and its capital have registered record numbers in the past week and the surge is expected to peak in the first week of May, according to experts.
An analysis by the Hindustan Times estimates that if the same growth rate continues, Bengaluru will soon start reporting around 25,000 new infections every day, further stretching the already overworked and inadequate healthcare infrastructure in the city.
The growing number of cases in Bengluru has led to chaos across the city, with families of Covid-19 patients, who required hospitalistaion, running from hospital-to-hospital to get their loved ones admitted. Several people have died on the footsteps of hospitals after being denied admission and several others continue to wait outside these private and public medical facilities in the hope that they will be attended at some point, experts pointed out. Though the fatalitiy rate remains under 0.5%, the higher number of infections means that a higher number of people require hopsitalisation, experts said.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru is rapidly running out hospital beds. According to data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), there are just 1,496 hospital beds available in the city. Of these, only 21 beds with intensive care units (ICU) or those with ventilators, as on 5.10 pm on Friday, according to BBMP’s central bed management system.
With only 2 ICU-V beds remaining in government hospitals, they saw an occupancy of 97.14%, as pet BBMP data.
The occupancy rates in private medical colleges for ICU and ICU-V were at 99.03% and 94.92%, respectively, while the same were 94.77% and 97.41% in private hospitals, according to BBMP data.
The chief minister has requested the Centre for supply of 1,471 tonne of oxygen per day and 200,000 doses of remdesivir for the next 10 days, according to the CMO.
He, however, told the PM that Karnataka had adequate number of hospitals beds but were only running out of oxygen and critical life-saving drugs. “Karnataka has got adequate beds to manage Covid patients. At this rate we will face problems in the coming days to manage serious cases. We have permitted opening of step-down hospitals to decrease the load on hospitals. We are also considering setting up Field Hospitals with ICU facilities,” according to the CMO statement.
“The hospital bed situation is dynamic, and more beds are being added every day. So, this should not be a problem,” a member of the technical advisory committee (TAC) on Covid-19 in the state said, requesting not to be named.
The opposition parties and general public, however, have hit out at the lack of preparedness by the Yediyurappa government despite being warned in November last year by the TAC of an imminent second wave in Bengaluru and Karnataka.
“It is increasingly becoming difficult to answer phone calls calling for help with beds, oxygen & remdesivir. Helplessness is creeping in, but one must keep trying. Govt has just given up on citizens & is manipulating data & headlines. If this continues, “Ab ki baar, Antim Sanskar”,” Priyank Kharge, the Congress legislator from Kalaburagi, posted on Twitter.
