- Extremely heart-wrenching scenes/visuals of thousands of patients gasping for oxygen in the vicinity of hospitals, in the ambulances, in any available vehicles to ferry them are being played out across the country with alarming regularity. Though the Central Government and respective State Government’s kept assuring the citizens that there is no shortage of oxygen for the teeming patients flocking the hospitals, undeniable reality on the ground has a different story to convey altogether. Hospitals running out of oxygen and as a consequence suffering patients losing their lives is a recurring phenomenon that can no longer be brushed under the carpet.
PC: Jeremy Kahn
- Something had to give in and the Supreme Court thankfully has stepped in at the right time to address this single most significant anomaly bogging the healthcare infrastructure rendering so many families bereft of breadwinners, loved ones, and willingness to lead a dignified life in the face of the continuing onslaught from the amorphous virus. Constant bickering among the political parties blatantly indulging in accusations and counter-accusations is not helping the cause of the suffering patients either. As charges and counter-chargers flew thick and fast, the distress calls through different channels from both people and hospitals for oxygen reminded the authorities have failed to get a grip on the situation.
- It is quite apparent that the sources of oxygen supplies are unevenly spread around the country but the demand for it comes from across the country in varied forms. The need of the hour is to encourage interstate coordination and the Centre using its resources to see it through. Visibly, the outcome so far has been unsatisfactory and shows up in the form of communication from CMs asking for higher oxygen allocation on the back of an uptick in the confirmed infection cases. Thus, the Supreme Court’s order last week on the establishment of a national task force to improve the oxygen allocation process is not only a positive development but also streamlines the entire process in a structured manner.
PC: LawBeat
- One of the most welcome features of the move is to note that the judiciary’s non-adversarial order does not step on to the shoes of the executive’s purview. As if on cue, the Centre also responded favorably to the court’s suggestion on a task force by making an initial suggestion on the composition of the same. The proposed 12-member task force has a majority from the healthcare sector and two members from the government convened by the Cabinet Secretary, the head of the civil services ensuring the efficacy of the group. As expected, the government will take the final call on the task force’s recommendations through the terms of reference are framed by the Supreme Court.
- The task force for oxygen should also be extended to include all-encompassing recommendations to improve the overall healthcare infrastructure viz. beds, ICUs, ventilators, medical manpower, vaccination roadmap, as also strengthen the overall strategy to combat the anticipated third wave as the experts predict. We are forced to learn bitter lessons at humongous costs to lives and the economy as the ongoing second wave has devastated the country beyond imagination. Political parochialism should not come in the way of joining hands to collectively guide the nation to sail through the crisis with minimum damage. Hopefully, prevailing calamity will be handled in the right spirits henceforth.
