'No Covid patient in Bihar died due to oxygen shortage'

PATNA: State health minister Mangal Pandey on Tuesday said no Covid patient in Bihar died due to lack of oxygen or unavailability of equipment. He also denied any death due to delay in providing an ICU bed to any Covid patient.
Pandey was replying to a starred question raised by Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra in the Vidhan Parishad on the seond day of the monsoon session.
Mishra said a large number of Covid patients died in the second wave and over 30% of them due to infection in the ICU as the equipment were not properly sterilized and hygiene was not maintained. He also said lack of oxygen and failure to provide an ICU facility to the Covid patients were also the reasons behind many deaths. He further said these problems had been pointed out by the doctors of AIIMS-Patna during a training programme for the healthcare workers in which health minister Pandey and Union minister of state Ashwini Kumar Choubey were also present.
However, the health minister clarified that the doctors in the training session raised such issues to make the healthcare workers aware of different problems which could occur. He further said the government was taking up all necessary steps to strengthen the health infrastructure. However, Mishra alleged that a large number of dead bodies were thrown in the Ganga.
Earlier, RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh demanded discussion on Covid-19 and preparations for the third wave. He said over 5,000 people in Bihar lost their lives in the first and second wave and the government was not taking important steps to tackle the predicted third wave. “A large number of people had to sell their land to clear the hospital bills. Even though the third wave has been predicted, the government is not taking sufficient steps and the pace of vaccination is slow compared to the huge population of Bihar,” said Singh.
Another RJD MLC, Ram Chandra Purbey, also made a request to the chair to immediately discuss this issue.