Even the High Court directive could not ensure that there were no oxygen-related casualties in the 'dark hours' at Goa Medical College. On Thursday, another 15 patients died due to lack of oxygen during the critical 1 am to 6 am window, in what the government termed a "logistical issue" giving the ongoing horror at the State's premier hospital yet another bizarre twist.
From Wednesday evening till Thursday morning, medical teams and oxygen cylinders were on standby, but just when patients were beginning to breathe easy, tragedy struck once again. Oxygen supply plummeted and 15 people died gasping. It is only then that reality dawned that a logistical glitch in terms of a major time delay when piped oxygen is being replenished was being ignored.
It's a disgrace to hear that the State government is now presenting a 'logistical issue' to the court arguing that time was lost during manoeuvering of the tractor which carries the trolleys of oxygen while it connects the cylinders to the manifold. We cannot comprehend how Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who remains convinced on the availability of oxygen, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and Dean Dr Shivanand Bandekar ignored such a critical logistical issue all this time.
The drop in oxygen pressure should have been thoroughly studied, from source to the end-point. The communication gap between the people on the ground engaged in refilling oxygen and the medical support teams monitoring patients is simply not acceptable in an area which deals with the lives of people. No system can be allowed to take such risks. There should have been alternate arrangements in place and patients could be shifted to the super-speciality block. It appears that despite the mayhem, a lot was left to chance. Surprisingly, an outdated system is used to transport and replenish oxygen in a healthcare sector that boasts of having state-of-the-art facilities.
Given the grim situation, the Chief Minister, Health Minister, Dean and other senior doctors should be personally monitoring the situation during the 'dark hours', especially wards 145, 146, 147 which are bearing the brunt. In three days there are over 60 deaths due to oxygen levels dropping, and at this rate, we can't wait for another 4-5 days for logistics to be rectified.
While loose ends are being tied, Goa needs to ramp up its oxygen supplies and options need to be looked into. It is established that Scoop Pvt Ltd alone is unable to cater to the requirement of the State given the situation. The question is why did the State government not seek the Central quota when 22 other States were availing it? On April 21 the Centre announced that it is increasing the quota of oxygen to eight States, why did Goa not plead its case? Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra squabbled, pushed and managed to get additional quota while Goa had no account of its requirement.
People across Goa are devastated and heartbroken. There is visible pain and anguish felt far and wide as people continue to fall victim to systemic failures and errors. This will go down as the height of Covid mismanagement in Goa.
