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The Supreme Court of India said it would set up a working group as part of efforts to improve the distribution of medical oxygen to the healthcare sector as the country fights a brutal second wave of Covid-19.
The court, which has been critical of the government’s handling of the deep health crisis, announced Saturday it had set up a committee to establish an “effective and transparent mechanism” for allocating oxygen supplies to states and hospitals.
Development comes after weeks of brawling the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state governments on oxygen supply. The twelve-member committee “will facilitate a public health response to the pandemic based on scientific and expertise knowledge,” the court added.
India on Saturday reported more than 400,000 new cases of Covid and more than 4,000 deaths, although large parts of the country were under varying degrees of curfew and blockade. Tamil Nadu, the hub of India’s automotive industry, announced this weekend that it would impose a two-week blockade from Monday.
He coronavirus wave that has overflowed India’s healthcare system has sparked a black oxygen market as wealthy citizens seek life-saving medical attention, with police confiscating hundreds of oxygen concentrators at New Delhi’s luxury restaurants.
In a series of tweets in recent days, police said they had recovered 524 concentrators from a farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital and in restaurants in Delhi’s popular Khan market.
22m
Number of confirmed coronavirus infections in India
Police said the concentrators, which are used to supply pure oxygen to Covid-19 patients, were sold for at least 3.5 times the normal price.
Authorities are looking for the owner of the restaurant, Navneet Kalra, a social person often photographed with Bollywood stars and cricketers. At least five more people have been arrested.
Some have praised those who provide rescue equipment for coronavirus patients who cannot get hospital care.
“My experience is that 4 people I forwarded who connected also got OCs from him which saved lives [sic]”, Tweeted Prasanto Roy, a Delhi-based policy consultant from the Kalra network. He added that oxygen concentrators were” delivered quickly “and” the cheapest on the market. “
Roy said the raids would have a “creepy effect” on those trying to import oxygen concentrators and other medical equipment to help alleviate the crisis.
Over the past month, the country’s social networks have been flooded with requests for help from people seeking oxygen, life-saving medicines or hospital beds for loved ones with serious illnesses. Oxygen supplies from hospitals have been depleted in some cases and have resulted in the death of patients.
The shortage of supplies such as medicines has created strong financial incentives for those who are willing to participate. fraud, piracy and counterfeiting of drugs.
Last month, police attacked several industrial plants used for the manufacture and packaging of fake remdesivir vials, an injectable antiviral drug used to treat patients with seriously ill Covid-19 in hospitals. At least 14 people were arrested.
India has confirmed more than 22 million coronavirus infections and more than 242,000 deaths since the pandemic began. But epidemiologists believe the actual number is much higher, as India’s limited testing capacity and disincentives to report deaths from the disease make many cases countless.
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