Ina shocking incident reported on the pious occasion of Gudi Padva, at least 10Covid-19 patients died in the Vasai town due to alleged shortage of medicaloxygen, officials said here on Tuesday.
Asrevealed by the relatives of the deceased and local authorities, the 10 personsmay have directly succumbed to the alleged scarcity of oxygen.
Thereare over 7,000 'active cases' in Vasai, of which at least 3,000-odd needregular oxygen facilities.
Themaximum deaths are reported from the tertiary care centre, Vinayaka Hospital,Nala Sopara, however, the hospital authorities have rejected the allegations sayingall patients were serious comorbids who succumbed in a single day and there isno oxygen shortage.
NalaSopara MLA Kshitij Thakur said, "I wish to draw the attention of PMNarendra Modi and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to the development andappealed for help."
"Thereis an acute shortage of oxygen in the Vasai taluka. Notably, the supply can runfor only three hours. Unfortunately, three lives have already been lost due tono oxygen supply in our area. I request to look into this serious matter andprovide ample oxygen supply to the tehsil. This will prevent any more loss oflives," Thakur urged.
Healso appealed to CM Thackeray, deputy CM Ajit Pawar and Health Minister RajeshTope to intervene in the matter.
BharatiyaJanata Party's Leader of Opposition Pravin Darekar and ex-MP Kirit Somaiyaslammed the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for the deaths
"Thegovernment must take serious note...It seems to focus only on lockdown... butwe also need oxygen beds, ICU beds, ventilators, Remdesivir, etc," Darekaradded.
"Thisis not an auspicious development on Gudi Padwa," he rued.