The Covid-19 second surge has brought to the fore a new hero or villain-whatever you can say to it and
i.e. OXYGEN. The bulk of deaths in the second surge have occurred due to lack of oxygen. Whenever oxygen
is enough, people have recovered from Covid and living a life of comfort. But, when the oxygen supply is
disrupted, people are dying like flies on road. As we all know, oxygen is the backbone of our life and the
distance between life and death is just a breath. So, when due to human error, the oxygen supply is
disconnected, the death of normal persons is writing on a wall. Here the victims are Covid-19 patients
whose lungs are already infected. How the lack of oxygen is wreaking havoc can be seen in Delhi or Goa.
In Goa’s prime medical facility, Goa Medical College and Hospital, seventy-six people have died due to
low pressure in oxygen supply between two AM to six AM. From Goa Medical College Hospital to Jaipur
Golden and Batra in New Delhi last month; from Nashik to Chamrajnagar. Across cities and towns, SOSs
went out non-stop twenty-four by seven. By the time High Courts and the Supreme Court prodded
governments to act, it was too late for many. The stories narrated by the next of kin of people who died due to
lack of oxygen are not only breathtaking but shivering from top to bottom. These people have seen
their near and dear ones gasping for oxygen and they did not get it and finally die with extreme pain and
grief. The psychological condition of both the patients and the relatives can not be described in words.
But these stories are circulating on social media which is devastating. They are all victims of not lack of
oxygen, but human errors. Somewhere the driver delayed the tanker carrying oxygen cylinders due to
which people did not get oxygen on time and somewhere we don’t have expert drivers who can
carry cryogenic tankers containing oxygen cylinders. The ultimate reason is our government’s failure to
forecast the potential disaster of Corona's second surge and mutant virus. PM Modi could not forecast
the disaster and hence we were facing a shortage of oxygen and vaccines. The trail of lack of vision and
irresponsible behavior starts from there and ends with the state government’s equally lackluster
mismanagement of oxygen supply and vaccination program. States only are throwing onus on center
which is not the case. The state governments have some responsibility and they can’t escape by just
making allegations against the center. The villain is not oxygen but our dilapidated health machinery who
was neglected for years since independence. No government has paid attention to improve health
sector or increase the budget for the sector in successive union budgets. The result is thousands of people
have died and still dying due to lack of oxygen, shortage of vaccines, and shortage of health staff. The First
Corona wave had exposed our lackluster health sector, but we did not learn anything from that. Now,
our innocent citizens are paying a terrible price for the incompetence of our administrators and leaders who
are not well educated. Half-educated politicians have been given all the reigns of more competent
sectors like medical and technology. We are paying the price for the illiteracy of our politicians. For how
many years this will continue, nobody knows. Eventually, we can conclude that oxygen is neither hero
nor a villain. All the blame should be passed on to our health administration.