Goemkapronn desk
PANAJI: Even as the COVID 19 cases are on a dip in the State, the month of May has wreaked havoc in the State with 1467 losing life to the dreaded disease.
Approximately 48 innocent people lost their lives everyday in May, which has been the worst in 15 months of pandemic.
Since the pandemic started in February 2020, Goa has seen 2760 deaths. With 1467 deaths in May, the month accounted for 53.1 p.c of total deaths in 15 months.
Oxygen shortage claim lives
It is no secret that the majority of lives were lost due to shortage of Oxygen in the State’s premier hospital – Goa Medical College.
With increase in death the citizens had to approach the High Court for some respite.
The Goa Bench of the High Court was told “logistic issues involved in maneuvering tractors which carry oxygen, and (the) connecting of cylinders to manifold” had led to “fall of pressure in supply lines of oxygen to patients”. “It was pointed out it is basically on account of these factors some casualties may have taken place,” the court summed up.
The bench – hearing petitions on the handling of the pandemic – slammed the state, saying Covid patients could not be allowed to die because of “logistics”.
It has directed hospital and state authorities to file a status report by 7 pm today; this is to include reports on the supply of oxygen and the availability of tanks, concentrators and drivers.
The Goa Chief Minister, who visited GMCH after the first set of deaths, had said the gap between the “availability of medical oxygen and its supply might have caused some issues”.
He also stressed that there was no scarcity of oxygen supply in the state.
While CM said there was no connection between Oxygen and deaths, Health Secretary Goel in a letter to Centre said that between May 1 and 10, the state received only 66.74 metric tonnes of the allocated 110 from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur.
Kolhapur supplies around 40 per cent of all medical oxygen to Goa in this crisis.
In May, the Goa Medical College and Hospital was full. There was no place for new patients, and the final few who managed admission have to be content with a spot on the floor.
“We waited eight hours just to get a wheelchair… the next day his oxygen levels were 50-60 and we needed a ventilator, which was not available. Forget that, they don’t even have beds. They put him on the floor,” a family member of a patient, who did not wish to be named, said.
Goa also had the highest positivity rate in the country – 52.1 per cent in May, which meant that every second COVID-19 test is returning a positive result.
