SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024
SUJAY GUPTA
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane out of the blue asked for a judicial inquiry in the deaths of 26 people between 2 am and 6 am on the intervening night between Monday and Tuesday . “Due to interrupted supply of Oxygen we feel that between 2 am and 6 am many people are dying in GMC. There is a need for an inquiry directly by the High Court,” Rane said.
For those who are reading this out of Goa and also to remind those in Goa, Vishwajit Rane is the Health Minister of Goa. The GMC, Goa’s largest medical college is directly under his watch, staffed by his handpicked people from top to bottom. He is asking for a judicial probe into his own functioning. And this is serious. Not a joke.
In the same week, the Advocate General of Goa Devidas Pangam, appearing for the State in response to a host of petitions asking for the Hon High Court to do the government’s work of streamlining oxygen supply and improve health infrastructure to stop the bodies from piling up said “a medical expert will assess if there is deficiency of oxygen supply.”
The Bench of the Court was infuriated and in a common man’s parlance snapped. “We have seen videos of people gasping for breath due to lack of oxygen and you are going to assess if there is a deficiency,” the Bench commented and said that it did “not appreciate it”.
Goa was a wonderland. Today it is a Banana Republic with different arms of the government running around like headless chickens when heads should roll and people should be stripped off their posts. Neither the Health Minister nor the Chief Minister can morally desire to hold onto their positions because of their utter failure to first, pre-plan the crisis management, and then, after failing, ending up causing double jeopardy by losing control of the second-wave crisis management.
There is a delay in the allocation of cylinders, oxygen does not reach the patients, there aren’t enough oxygen trolleys. The government through press conferences and in courts is assuring to streamline all this after 25 people, and counting, are dying each day due to lack of oxygen. What is the point of these assurances after hundreds of deaths have already occurred? Will the supply of oxygen, after they die, bring back the dead?
The officiating Dean of GMC Dr SM Bandekar tells reporters on Tuesday, “We have to ascertain the details (of the causes) of 26 dead.” The very next day 21 more die. Now has the Dean “ascertained” the causes? Is he any closer to the truth after 21 more families whose loved ones could have been saved are devastated for life?
The point is the government first needs to ascertain why it exists. There is no moral ground when the High Court remarks, “Article 21 is completely violated if people die due to lack of oxygen,” and adds, “We have the powers to issue writs but we are requesting that no deaths are reported at the GMCH due to lack of oxygen. It’s a matter of life and death.” Less than 12 hours later 21 more bodies were taken out of the COVID wards of GMC as people died again due to lack of oxygen.
Goans are now seriously trying to find out an absence of something so critical that it is linked to the lack of oxygen. It’s called governance.
There is a criminal lack of competence within different arms of the government. On paper, there are people whose task is to do their job. Isn’t it a good idea to learn from them why they have failed to do so and/or why their hands are tied? In an order dated 21.4.2021 three IAS officers have been appointed as nodal officers. One for bed allocation and availability of COVID related drugs, the second for the management allocation of oxygen supply to all hospitals and the third for COVID helpline and technology support. And then on 23.04.21, yet another IAS officer was appointed to look after the overall management/allocation of oxygen supply to all health institutions.
Why did these IAS officers fail to ensure timely information, coordination and handling the logistics of getting oxygen delivered in a timely manner to save lives, using technology and real-time stock management?
The battle against COVID is not won by appointing officers and giving affidavits in Court. It is also not won when lives that can be saved are not done, due to sheer incompetence and insensitivity.
And the political games do not stop. While the crisis was at its peak Pramod Sawant still found time to do a tete-a-tete with Panjim MLA and currently in the BJP, Antanasio Monserrate, to speak to reporters asking for a CBI inquiry into the functioning of the Health Minister. The Chief Minister may choose to deny this and we invite him to do so but while denying he should specify if he agrees with Monserrate’s observation about the functioning of Health Minister Rane. And if not, he should ask his party to initiate a disciplinary inquiry against him for being a ruling party MLA and bringing the government to disrepute.
In Goa, there is a pandemic of failure, of lack of sensitivity on the part of the government from planning, to ensure the production of oxygen to streamlining the vaccination programmes. We have and will go into all of this in the coming days. But when people die of lack of oxygen when they could have been saved, it is not just a violation of Article 21. This is as close as one can get to letting people die due to almost willful negligence.
The very least that this Banana Republic can do is to allow churches and other places of worship to remain open for a few hours each day, just as markets and, yes – liquor shops are – for people to seek solace and spend some time with GOD. Because that is the only hope.
