BENGALURU: At a time when murmurs of infighting between cabinet colleagues in Karnataka are doing the rounds, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, in a show of strength, held a press conference along with key members of the cabinet involved in managing the Covid-19 crisis. At the presser, which ran for a little more than an hour, Yediyurappa and his ministers laid out numbers after numbers and efforts taken to address concerns around the pandemic.
While disbursing information on what the government had done, was doing and intends to do in future, many questions over oxygen shortage deaths, shortage of supplies, availability of beds and economic relief package to the vulnerable and poor, went unanswered.
"Government of India has increased allocation of oxygen from 965 MT to 1015 MT. In addition, we have received 40 tonnes of oxygen from Bahrain and another 100 tonnes from Kuwait. We brought 120 MT of oxygen from Jamshedpur via train. Action is being taken to increase oxygen generation capacity in the State, and be prepared for a potential third wave. We are setting up 127 Oxygen Generation Units in medical college hospitals, district hospitals and taluk hospitals," Yediyurappa said, but refused to comment on oxygen shortage deaths in Chamarajanagar district, or fixing responsibility for the same.
After Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan insisted that all concerns have been addressed and there was no shortage of resources, Yediyurappa said, "Did I say there was no shortage at all? All I am saying is that solutions are being streamlined," to a question why people are struggling to find medicines, beds and oxygen.
"Many private hospitals and private medical colleges were not giving up beds and our officials wore PPE kits and went on a reality check. We realised that hospitals were showing fewer oxygenated beds than they had, to avoid giving them under the government quota. We have annexed 2,216 oxygenated beds from hospitals and medical colleges so more patients can be treated," Revenue Minister R Ashoka said, adding that oxygen on wheels, oxygenated beds at Covid Care Centres, and a helpline for the final rites of Covid victims have been set up.
Sudhakar should quit over tragedy: Congress
Mysuru: A day after the inquiry committee report revealed that the death of 24 patients at Chamarajanagar District Hospital was due to lack of oxygen, KPCC working president R Dhruvanarayan urged the government to book Health Minister K Sudhakar and his officials for murder. Accusing Sudhakar of lying about the deaths at the district hospital, he said the minister should resign, owning moral responsibility, or CM B S Yediyurappa must drop him from the cabinet. He told the media here on Thursday that the report had exposed the failure of the district administration in handling the crisis.