Chaos, apathy mar Uttar Pradesh's Covid-19 management as cases soar

Notwithstanding the claims by the state government, chaos, apathy and poor health infrastructure marred Covid-19 management in Uttar Pradesh as Covid-19 cases continued to remain high in the state.

The state reported 33,574 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, which was slightly less than the number of cases reported on Sunday. So far 11,414 people have died from Covid in the state.

Alleged hoarding and black marketing of oxygen cylinders and Remdesivir, a drug used to treat severe cases, have added to the woes of the patients, who, despite, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's assurances, continued to be turned away by the hospitals citing shortage of oxygen and non-availability of ICU beds.

While the arrival of two special trains carrying medical oxygen from Bokaro has provided some respite, the smaller hospitals continued to face the crunch, according to multiple reports.

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A report claimed that as many as eight patients died at a private hospital in Meerut, about 450 kilometres from here, owing to shortage of oxygen on Monday.

Long queues of people were seen outside the oxygen plants in different parts of the state. Some hospitals have put up boards asking the attendants of the patients to arrange oxygen on their own, or else their patients will not be admitted.

Many people complained of the 'apathetic' attitude of the health officials and said that the latter seldom answered the calls made on helpline numbers.

Social media platforms were flooded with these complaints, requests for arranging oxygen, and getting their patients admitted to the hospitals.

''They (health officials) don't answer the phones....ambulances are sent several hours after the requests,'' said a resident of the state capital Lucknow.

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There were reports of people carrying their dead on the roof of the car and hand carts to the crematoria.

To add to the woes of the people, private laboratories were fleecing them for the RT-PCR tests. ''I was charged Rs 1,100 for the test and the report was sent to me after three days,'' said Santosh Kumar (name changed), a resident of Aliganj locality in Lucknow.

The state government has been attacked by the opposition for its alleged mismanagement. ''The Modi government is responsible for the second wave....both the centre and the state government have failed to provide medical facilities to the patients,'' said senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tewari.

Adityanath said that the state government had taken adequate measures to resolve the issues. ''We are ensuring uninterrupted oxygen supply to the hospitals....private hospitals, who refuse to admit patients, will be acted against....NSA has been slapped on those hoarding or black marketing remdesivir,'' he said.