A matter of life

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A matter of life

Saturday, 24 April 2021 | Pioneer

A matter of life

The Government must quickly address the critical issue of oxygen scarcity in hospitals and elsewhere

With several States, including Delhi, battling a critical shortfall between the demand and supply of medical oxygen, the Centre is taking steps to tackle the situation which is, as Chief Justice of India SA Bobde put it, “almost a national emergency”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held marathon meetings — with top bureaucrats, with the Chief Ministers of the 10 worst-hit States and with the heads of oxygen-manufacturing companies — to review the preparedness against COVID-19. The results of his efforts can be gauged from the fact that even Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who holds “Modi ji” responsible for everything wrong, thanked him for raising Delhi’s medical oxygen quota to 480 metric tonnes. Also, Kejriwal’s advice that a “national plan” is needed to tackle the pandemic should be taken seriously as the level of cooperation the States are showing in this hour of crisis is not very encouraging. In the meeting with the PM, Kejriwal suggested that the Centre should take over the oxygen facilities or plants through the Army and its personnel should be deployed to escort the trucks/tankers transporting oxygen so that it safely reaches its destination. The Delhi Government’s complaint — that Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are stopping the tankers carrying oxygen to Delhi— reveals a grim scenario which mocks at “cooperative federalism”.

The seriousness of the situation can be assessed from the fact that the Indian Air Force has pressed its C-17 Globemasters and Il-76 heavy lift aircraft to ferry big oxygen tankers to the critical cities. The current situation also raises some pertinent, though uncomfortable, questions: Is politics above the interest of citizens? If it is not a breakdown of cooperative federalism, what else is it? However, the answers to these questions should be best left to the Governments concerned. At this point, it’s more important to deal with the existential crisis facing us. It’s time for the Government to ramp up the production of medical oxygen manifold by lending whatever support it can to the private manufacturers. Also, it’s a critical time to ensure that oxygen delivery takes place directly from the plants to hospitals without any hiccups. It seems that it’s a race against time for humanity, and we have no option but to win.

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