Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 14: With 13 more deaths on Friday, the toll in the state government-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in the last four day went up to 75. Though the state government continued to evade a direct answer if the deaths were caused by shortage of oxygen, its admission that some “logistic issues” were involved in the supply of oxygen was enough for the people to accuse the government of “genocide” and a police complaint against the chief minister Pramod Sawant and others of “cold blooded murder and gross negligence of duty.”
The toll climbed up with the death of 13 more patients on Friday. On Thursday, 15 deaths were recorded, the day before — Wednesday — 21 people died, and on Tuesday, 26 people had lost their lives in the state’s largest Covid facility.
The horror at GMCH is continuing even as the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court is hearing petitions related to deaths during the “dark hours.” All the 75 deaths in the hospital occurred between 2 AM and 6 AM on all the four days.
While the state government has not revealed the exact cause of the latest deaths at the GMCH, it has told the High Court that there were “logistic issues” related to supply of medical oxygen to patients.
According to the government, the “logistic issues” involved maneuvering tractors which carry oxygen, and (the) connecting of cylinders to manifold” which had led to “fall of pressure in supply lines of oxygen to patients.”
“We were explained that during this process, there was some interruption, which resulted in fall of pressure in the supply lines of oxygen to the patients. It was pointed out that it is basically on account of these factors some casualties may have taken place,” the bench had said. The explanation prompted the court to comment “Covid patients could not be allowed to die because of logistics.”
A resident doctor at one of the GMCH wards said pressure in the central pipeline started falling at around 1 am on Thursday, and three patients in his ward succumbed to the fluctuations, despite their attempts to revive them. “Relatives called us frantically saying patients were gasping for breath and their saturation levels (SPO2) had dropped to 40-50.” On the night of Wednesday-Thursday, there was a drop in oxygen pressure at least five to six times, the doctor added.
The opposition has reacted strongly, with the Goa Forward Party on Friday filing a police complaint against Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and senior officials. The complaint alleges gross and reckless acts of negligence and deliberate omission of duty – referring to the interruption of oxygen supply – that led to the deaths of several Covid patients.
Goa Congress is set to file a criminal case claiming “cold-blooded murder by the Chief Minister and Health Minister”. The party has slammed the “…clear-cut admission by Goa’s BJP government before the High Court of Bombay at Goa that 41 deaths occurred due to shortage of oxygen…”
The Goa Congress said they would file criminal cases against the Chief Minister, the Health Minister Viswajit Rane and other officials. .
In a statement, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar said the candid admission that there is a substantial deficit of oxygen supply by the BJP government in Goa shows that it is “irresponsible, insensitive and run by an incompetent and defective Chief Minister’.
“The Congress party is going to file a criminal complaint against both for culpable homicide,” Chodankar said. “If the health minister admits on camera that he was aware that patients were dying between 2 and 6 am on a daily basis and that the death toll in Goa would be around 200-300 per day, why did he not act upon it? What action did the chief minister and health minister take to avert the crisis?” he asked.
Calling it a genocide, the Goa Congress president said, “If needed, will move the court to get justice for those who were killed by the Chief Minister and Health Minister.”
It has directed hospital and state authorities to file a status report by 7 pm today; this is to include reports on the supply of oxygen and the availability of tanks, concentrators and drivers.
The chief minister who visited GMCH on Tuesday after the first set of deaths, had said the gap between the “availability of medical oxygen and its supply might have caused some issues” but had maintained that there was no shortage of oxygen in the state.
However on the same day the health minister had told the media that there was a “shortfall” in supply of medical oxygen as of the previous day, i.e., Monday, and sought a probe by the High Court.
The Goa Congress has also claimed a feud between Sawant and Rane – over “commission for the purchase of crores of ‘ivermectin’ tablets, which runs into crores of rupees.”
“Ivermectin,” an anti-parasitic drug not approved by the World Health Organisation, was promised to be distributed among all Goan adults as “preventive treatment” for Covid by the health minister earlier this week.”
The Chief Minister’s assertion that there was no problem with oxygen supply, was also contradicted by a letter from Goa’s Principal Secretary, PK Goel, to the central government. In the letter Goel said between May 1 and 10, the state received only 66.74 metric tonnes of the allocated 110 from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur. Kolhapur supplies around 40 per cent of all medical oxygen to Goa in this crisis.
The Goa Medical College and Hospital is full. There is no place for new patients, and the final few who managed admission have to be content with a spot on the floor.
“We waited eight hours just to get a wheelchair… the next day his oxygen levels were 50-60 and we needed a ventilator, which was not available. Forget that, they don’t even have beds. They put him on the floor,” a family member of a patient said.