PANJIM: Despite assurances given by the Health Secretary and the Chief Minister of adequate oxygen supply and oxygen beds, families of patients at Goa Medical College (GMC) have expressed concerns about repeated incidents of a dip in oxygen supply to these beds at the hospital.
Volunteers at GMC have also lamented about the panic it creates as staff rush to try and restore oxygen supply and the time taken for this to happen is not something many patients can afford given their precarious situation.
“GMC is still having a major problem with oxygen. On Sunday night, there was a huge shortage from 1am onwards from the main line one and also cylinders. While it was restored in the morning, this has been the situation for the last 10 days,” said one such volunteer Ashley Delaney.
Volunteers also referred to the extreme shortage of ventilators in ward 113.
Last week the CM had to rush to GMC in the night to restore oxygen supply in ward 142.
While Health Secretary Ravi Dhawan, at a recent media briefing reiterated that the government has solved all oxygen supply issues; the CM on Monday at a virtual press meeting, repeated his opinion that most of the deaths are occurring because people are being admitted late to the hospital, by which time any amount of oxygen supply won’t help as the patient’s condition has already deteriorated badly.
However, volunteers as well as families of people who have died at GMC and other government hospitals claimed that many are dying because the overburdened hospitals were unable to give them access to oxygen supply and other life-saving equipment when it mattered most.
They said the government has to resolve these teething issues and oxygen availability issues at the earliest.
While families of patients can be seen making last ditch efforts to get hold of oxygen cylinders, the CM on Monday claimed there are some who are trying to gain publicity by providing oxygen cylinders etc.
