The health system of the country is on the verge of collapse due to alack of necessary facilities in the war against the pandemic. There is ashortage of beds, oxygen supply, ventilators, and vaccines too, in many states of the country.
People of the country are infuriated as several thousandsof patients are dying due to lack of oxygen. Exasperated citizens of the nationare now demanding an apology from the central government and demanding PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to resign. The Hashtag #ResignModi is trending onTwitter along with #ApologizeToNation.
In 2020, when the pandemic began, people were put underlockdown for several months as the government argued it needs time to strengthenthe health system. It was clear that oxygen supply will be the most preciousweapon in the battle against Covid 19 pandemic.
However, the Modi government took eight months to invitebids for new oxygen generation plants. In October 2020, About 162 oxygen plantswere decided to be installed to supply concentrated oxygen to hospital bedsthrough a pipeline. Recently PM Modi said that other than those 162 plants,more100 oxygen plants will be established out of PM Cares Funds.
But the reality differs from Prime Minister's statement,as the second wave of corona has hit the nation, the health ministry confirmed thatmost of these oxygen plants are not functional. “Out of 162 PSA Oxygen plants,33 have installed. By the end of May total of 80 plants will be installed.”
People are criticizing Modi and the central governmentfor their failure in fighting the pandemic. Recently hashtag #WhereIsPM wastrending as India had recorded more than 2 lakh cases in a single day.Highlighting the horrifying numbers of cases and fatalities, social media usersare continuously poking the Narendra Modi government.
In a recent unfortunate incident, a 65-year freelancejournalist, Vinay Srivastava passed away on Saturday, April 17. The journalisthad tweeted on April 16 that his oxygen level is drastically low and nohospital in Lucknow was responding to his phone calls. The next day, his sonHarshit Srivastva tweeted the unfortunate news. He said that he called everynumber for the oxygen cylinder but no one picked up and his father died waitingfor an ambulance. He criticized the government saying, "his father couldhave been saved if the government had not wasted time. It is entirely thegovernment's fault."