No deaths due to oxygen shortage in Tamil Nadu, MP: State Health Ministers

Tamil Nadu Health Minister M Subramaniam and Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Vishwas Sarang on Wednesday said that there were no deaths due to oxygen shortage in their states.

This comes after the Central government on Tuesday informed the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen has been specifically reported by states/Union territories during the second wave of COVID-19.

Speaking to ANI, M Subramaniam said, "There were no deaths due to oxygen shortage in Tamil Nadu. The Chief Minister has worked on a war footing to prevent this."

"When we faced lack of oxygen, we came in touch with the Centre at once and procured oxygen from them. So we didn't face big effects here", he added.

A similar opinion was voiced by Madhya Pradesh Health Minister.

"No deaths took place due to lack of oxygen in our State. The Union Minister stated the same in Rajya Sabha. Even in Tamil Nadu, the health minister said the same about their state," Sarang said.

In a written reply to Congress MP KC Venugopal on whether a large number of COVID-19 patients died on roads and hospitals due to acute shortage of oxygen in the second wave, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar had pointed out that health is a state subject and accordingly all states/UTs report cases and deaths to the Union Health Ministry on a regular basis.

She also stated that the Government of India has supported the states and undertook a series of actions including provisioning medical oxygen. Dr Pawar also highlighted that the medical oxygen demand in the country during the second wave peaked at nearly 9,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) as compared to 3,095 MT during the first wave.

( With inputs from ANI )