PANJIM: A week before Goa goes to vote, the State’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the second wave, has arisen as an issue.
“The second wave was overwhelming. The government certainly fell short. There was a lack of oxygen supply and the High Court of Bombay at Goa noted and pulled up the government. To be fair enough, the doctors, nurses, para-medical staff, and other frontline workers in the government hospitals made herculean efforts to save lives,” said Dr. Oscar Rebello, a prominent voice in the medical fraternity of Goa.
In agreement with this, Shruti Chaturvedi, entrepreneur and COVID-19 volunteer, who was among the first to move the High Court seeking its intervention to set things right in Goa, said, “How the Goa government-managed the second wave of COVID-19 is infamously known across the world. Despite several pleas from the citizens, bureaucrats and government doctors, the authorities kept on denying and hiding their inefficiencies still citizens themselves took it in their hands to help each other. It wasn’t until ordinary citizens took it to the High Court, that other political parties began joining in and created the pressure on the government to act.”
The mismanagement of the second wave is still fresh in people’s minds but the government’s competency was in question even before that.
Amid the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus that challenged the medical system across the world, the government in Goa beat the drum declaring the State COVID-free Green Zone.
Barely a fortnight thereafter, COVID-19 cases exploded in the State with no proper medical facilities in place until the intervention of the High Court of Bombay at Goa. Not once, not twice, but the State’s positivity rate has been the highest in the country quite a few times, including during the second and third wave.
While patients struggled to find beds in government hospitals, several were lying on stretchers, wheelchairs, and sadly, on the floors too. The State then saw 83 COVID-19 patients dying over a period of five days in May 2021, due to oxygen shortage during the Dark Hours of 2-6 am.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa – that had already begun hearing a batch of petitions complaining of poorly managed COVID-19 situation from the first week of May – time and again pulled up the State for failing in its duties. The doctors were reluctant to attribute the deaths to lack of oxygen supply but the families and relatives of the deceased said they noticed dips in the oxygen supply throughout the night, reported this to the doctors-nurses on duty but got no relief in return.
Oxygen cylinders fell short against the increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported on a daily basis.
The Goa government had submitted to the High Court that there were “logistic issues” related to the supply of medical oxygen to patients. In one of its interim orders, the High Court chided the State government for evading its duty of saving lives by pleading helplessness and citing logistical difficulties.
A 20,000 kilo-litre oxygen tank was thereafter commissioned at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
Rebello recalled that there were shortfalls because of the severe delta wave. “There were multiple administrative and managerial shortfalls. Perhaps avoidable deaths could have been prevented. The third wave was mild and most people are dying of co-morbidity rather than COVID-19 itself. Most of them are recovering,” he said.
During the second wave, the shortage of beds and ventilators too created panic. While the government was slow in its process to get jumbo and small cylinders to meet the increasing demands, some volunteers pitched in to assist the COVID-19 patients.
“People of Goa pooled in their own money, resources, equipment and manpower to help those in need. By then, thousands of families had lost their loved ones but thankfully many could be saved,” Chaturvedi said.
The deplorable state of hospitals in Goa went viral on social media. After the Court’s rap over Government’s another submission that expert tractor drivers to transport oxygen trolleys are difficult to find, the State arranged for eight trained drivers from Kolhapur along with 2 additional high-powered tractors for ferrying the oxygen trolleys between the plant and GMC.
Advocate Nikhil Pai, representing the South Goa Advocates Association in the High Court, said they were shocked over the mismanagement by the State government.
“During the hearing, we realized that the government was following a C process to get trolleys from Old Goa, and while changing there was a small ramp which was used to take the oxygen cylinders. This process took half an hour and during this time, precious lives were at stake. The government had made no provision for buffer storage, pressure swing adsorption plant. It was only in June 2021 that facilities were being set up,” he said.
Asked to comment on the overall performance of the government in handling the situation, Pai’s quick response was “disastrous”.
“The State handled the situation quite disastrously. We could have saved many lives. In the month of May 2021, 1481 COVID-19 related deaths were recorded. These are on record in the high court. Taking a cue from the first wave, we could have ramped up the infrastructure and medical equipment by utilizing the PM’s Care Funds. But the administration failed miserably,” he said.
Cashing in on the plight of the people, the government was then accused of financial irregularities in the health care system. Moreover, influential COVID-19 patients were getting treatment in private hospitals while the layman suffered.
“There is improvement now. If not for the High Court, the State could have witnessed a worse situation. Imposition of restrictions on the borders, entry of only fully vaccinated persons into Goa, was possible only because of the judiciary,” Pai said.
