Politics over oxygen: Rajasthan health minister alleges Centre of bias against Congress-ruled state

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Monday said that while 1,200 metric tonne oxygen was being supplied to Gujarat, his state got only 124 metric tonne even though both have similar COVID-19 situations.

"Bhiwadi's liquid medical oxygen (LMO) plant was under our control last time and there was no shortage. This time the Centre has brought all LMO generation plants and distribution under it," Sharma said.

"There are equal number of COVID-19 cases in Rajasthan and Gujarat. In Gujarat, 1,200 metric tonne oxygen is being supplied, whereas Rajasthan is getting only 124 metric tonne," the state minister said.

The minister further questioned that if oxygen is not made available adequately, how will they save the lives of people?

"We can increase the beds, but if there will be a shortage in the supply of the liquid medical oxygen, how will we be able to save the lives of people?" he said slamming the central government.

The state health minister also said that the state requires seven lakh vaccine doses daily but there is a shortage of vaccine.

"The Rajasthan government wrote to the prime minister and the union health minister, after which the state received 14 lakh doses, which will be administered in two days," Sharma said.

He also claimed that the state has full storage capacity and demanded the Centre to provide vaccine doses for 15 days.

According to the state health department, Rajasthan reported 11,967 new COVID-19 cases and 53 deaths in the last 24 hours.

"There are 76,641 active COVID-19 cases in the state, while the cumulative cases in the state have mounted to 4,26,584. As many as 3,204 people have succumbed to the virus so far," the official data informed on Monday.

( With inputs from ANI )