Indian hospitals saturated and short of oxygen were still struggling to save patients on Monday, May 3, 2021 – Parveen Kumar / Hindustan Times / Sh / SIPA
According to figures from the Indian Ministry of Health, nearly 370,000 new infections and 3,400 deaths were recorded in 24 hours on Monday. Figures that bring the number of Covid-19 cases in India since the start of the pandemic 19.9 million and 219,000 deaths. A very high balance, but proportionally per capita, it remains much lower than that of Brazil or the United States.
The country of 1.3 billion inhabitants, facing a second epidemic wave of great virulence, has identified eight million new infections since the end of March, according to official data that many specialists believe to be largely underestimated.
Deaths due to lack of oxygen
The health system, lacking in resources and unprepared for such a situation, is faced with serious shortages of places, medicines and oxygen. According to press reports, 24 people died from lack of oxygen in a hospital in the southern state of Karnataka, near Bangalore, on Sunday night. The district administration, however, denied that a shortage was the cause of these deaths.
On Saturday, twelve people died in a hospital that had exhausted its oxygen reserves in the capital New Delhi, according to local press. Many hospitals are launching calls, especially on social networks, for emergency oxygen supplies.
“We are constantly fighting against the worst”
A children’s clinic in Delhi has expressed alarm over its oxygen shortage, where some 25 to 30 sick newborns and children are at risk of dying, according to local press. “Oxygen is fundamental for a hospital and the regular supply is not assured. We are constantly fighting against the worst, ”said Dr. Dinesh, director of Madhukar Rainbow Children’s Hospital, quoted by the Indian Express daily.
Federal and state authorities are scrambling to find oxygen to supply hospitals. Industry is called upon, special rail convoys, “Oxygen Express”, ensure distribution.
Foreign aid
Foreign aid has also poured in in recent days. Oxygen plants arrived from France on Sunday and respirators from Germany on Saturday. The British government on Sunday announced plans to send a further 1,000 respirators to India, in addition to the oxygen concentrators and respirators already delivered.
Stepping up pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court on Sunday ordered his government to provide Delhi with oxygen reserves before midnight (6.30 p.m. GMT) on Monday.