GOVT MUST AUDIT DEATHS DUE TO OXYGEN SHORTAGE IN SECOND WAVE, SAYS HOUSE PANEL

he parliamentary standing committee on Health and Family Welfare has in a report recommended that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare examine the Covid deaths due to shortage of Oxygen and ensure compensation to the families of the victims.“The Committee is disappointed at this utter ignorance by the Government and strongly recommends the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to examine the number of deaths due to oxygen shortage especially during the second wave of Covid,” the panel headed SP member Ram Gopal Yadav said in its report. “The Ministry, in coordination with the States, must audit the deaths due to oxygen shortage and enable robust documentation of the covid deaths that will in fact generate the responsive and responsible sense of government and cautious formulation of policy and combat situational health care emergency,” reads the committee report.The Committee said it expects more transparency and more accountability from the Government agencies. The Ministry must meticulously examine the oxygen stricken Covid deaths and ensure that proper compensation is accorded to the families of the victims, it said.“There were several instances of families of patients pleading for oxygen and waiting in queues for oxygen cylinders. Media relayed stories of hospitals running out of oxygen and making desperate appeals when hospitals were reportedly left with only few hours of oxygen supply.