Indian authorities were struggling again on Saturday to bring medical oxygen to hospitals where COVID-19 patients are suffocating from supply shortages, as the country, which is experiencing the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak, set a new daily record. of infections for the third consecutive day.
The 346,786 infections reported in the last 24 hours bring the total number of cases to over 16 million, a figure only surpassed by the United States. The Indian Ministry of Health confirmed another 2,624 deaths in the last day, to add 189,544 since the start of the pandemic.
Hospitals in the capital New Delhi and in some of the worst-hit states like Maharashtra reported critical shortages of empty beds and oxygen for the sick. Families wait days to have their loved ones cremated in overflowing crematoria, leading many to perform funeral rites in makeshift facilities.
“All hospitals are running out of (oxygen). We are running out, ”Dr. Sudhanshu Bankata, executive director of Batra Hospital, one of the largest in the capital, told New Delhi Television.
At least 20 of the COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit at Jaipur Golden Hospital, also in New Delhi, died overnight due to “low oxygen pressure,” the Indian Express newspaper reported.
“Our supply was delayed between seven and eight hours on Friday night, and the reservations we received last night are only 40% of the required supply,” explained the director of the center, Dr. DK Baluja, as quoted by the newspaper.
The government increased its efforts to bring medical oxygen to hospitals, using special Oxygen Express trains, military aircraft and trucks to transport the tanks.
But the crisis in the nation of more than 1.4 billion people is worsening amid criticism of the government response and complaints from local officials diverting scarce supplies to hospitals in their area. The Supreme Court last week asked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a national plan for the distribution of oxygen and essential medicines for the treatment of patients with coronavirus.
–
