A nightmare every 3am: As oxygen vanishes, GMC patients gasp

PANAJI: The clock had barely crossed 3am when the bedside monitors at Goa Medical College’s wards 113 and 145 began beeping insistently. Underneath the clock, the ward’s oxygen gauge showed that the pressure in the O2 high flow central line had plummeted to 0.5psi. As Covid-19 patients started convulsing and gasping for air, their relatives raised an alarm, sent messages to volunteer groups, and even dispatched SOS messages on social media.
This macabre oxygen crisis continues to play out every night at GMC, indicating that the state’s leading public hospital still faces an acute shortage of oxygen. Despite chief minister Pramod Sawant and health minister Vishwajit Rane insisting that adequate oxygen supplies are available in the state, patients and their relatives say that they have to go through a “living hell” around 3am.
A source informed TOI that GMC has started rationing oxygen flow in order to ensure that the oxygen is sustained till fresh cylinder trolleys arrive. “In ward 113, it is clear that GMC has been severely rationing oxygen,” said Supriya, a volunteer who has been helping Covid-19 patients and their families access medical care and other facilities. “A patient’s SpO2 was 60% and oxygen supply was at 25%. Her desperate husband was trying to hold the oxygen mask connection together, hoping it would help.”
Goa has 31,875 active cases, with an average of 2,500 new cases reported on a daily basis. The number of patients needing hospitalisation, too, has risen sharply, but doctors have been complaining of an acute shortage of oxygen and beds for nearly a month. The government continues to insist that the situation is under control, and that oxygen supplies have been augmented.
“Two people have already died a short while ago. More will die,” said Supriya.
GMC is the state’s largest medical facility, and is the first place where patients run to when they require medical care.
Rajesh (name changed), whose mother is in ward 145, faced a harrowing time as he watched his mother struggle to breathe, ironically on Mother’s Day. His mother has a CT score of 24/25, and is hooked on to the high flow oxygen line. “My mother is in a critical condition as the pneumonia has spread in her lungs. The oxygen pressure was below 0.5 for more that 10 minutes,” said Rajesh. “This is not just once, but twice.”
Sadly, oxygen concentrators are lying unused at some GMC wards, as staffers haven’t been able to figure out how to use the 110v devices with a flat pin on the Indian standard 220v round pin sockets, a nurse said.
One family from ward 113 conveyed to TOI through intermediaries that their 45-year old mother has been struggling for a ventilator for the past three days, albeit unsuccessfully, and is currently dependent on the oxygen lines to survive.
GMC’s wards have run out of space too, and beds and patients are being given cardboards or bedsheets to put on the ground to sleep. Desperate relatives are trying everything to sustain the lungs of their loved ones.
Meanwhile, health secretary Ravi Dhawan said on Sunday that there is no shortage of oxygen in the state. “Oxygen is sufficient to meet our current demand,” he said. “Initially, Goa was allocated 11 metric tonnes by the government of India, which was enhanced to 21 metric tonnes and then to 26 metric tonnes per day. Then we have capacity within the state, where there are three suppliers.”
While the superspeciality block at GMC is equipped with an oxygen tank of 20,000 litres, GMC has a smaller tank.