No death due to oxygen shortage during 2nd wave: UP govt

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday told the legislative council that no death due to lack of oxygen was reported in the state during the second wave of COVID-19, a claim rejected by the opposition.

The government said the death certificates made no mention of 'death due to lack of oxygen' in any of the 22,915 patients that died due to the pandemic. Replying to Congress member Deepak Singh during the Question Hour, Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh said, "No death has been reported in the state due to lack of oxygen during the second wave." Raising a supplementary question, Deepak asked whether the government had details on similar cases that were flagged by its own ministers.

"Many ministers wrote letters saying deaths are taking place due to lack of oxygen in the state. Apart from this, many MPs had also made such complaints. Many incidents of deaths due to lack of oxygen had come to light. Is there any information with the government about these deaths in the entire state.

Has the government not seen the dead bodies flowing in the Ganges and people suffering due to lack of oxygen?" Giving clarification, Pratap said a doctor issues death certificate in case a hospitalised patient dies. He said there was no mention of 'death due to lack of oxygen' anywhere in the 22,915 death certificates that were issued by the doctors for COVID-19 victims in the state. The minister said several deaths during the pandemic were due to various other diseases, including terminal ones, and that the government had arranged oxygen from other states when there was a shortage.