MYSURU
: With pressure on hospitals mounting with the rise in cases and medical resources such as beds and oxygen scarce, elected representatives are increasingly engaging in petty turf wars, putting people’s lives at risk.
On Friday, Pratap Simha, Mysuru MP, stopped just short of accusing district ministers of Chamarajanagar and Mandya of indulging in goondaism after KC Narayanagowda, Mandya district minister, travelled to Mysuru with police in tow to get oxygen cylinders for his district on Wednesday. His Chamarajanagar counterpart S Suresh Kumar had also visited suppliers in Mysuru on Thursday.
The squabble — between functionaries of the same ruling party — comes in the wave of the deaths of 23 patients at Chamarajanagar
Covid
hospital after oxygen supply was exhausted and fresh stock from Mysuru was delayed.
“There is a trend of oppression which is affecting Covid management in Mysuru,” Simha said. “Officials in Mysuru are being threatened and ordered to fall in line. We need to take care of patients housed in our Covid facilities. But when ministers come and take away supplies, it is not good. They should control themselves, otherwise, I will have to intervene.”
He asked both ministers to get the state government to increase their quota of oxygen. “Mysuru needs nearly 40 kilo litres (KL) of oxygen every day, but we are getting only 24KL,” the
BJP MP said. Over the past few days Mysuru has been reporting more than 2500 fresh cases a day. He said cases could spiral to 10,000 a day by May end.
He said the Mysuru district administration will install
CCTV
cameras at all eight medical oxygen suppliers’ plants to monitor movement of cylinders.
‘Outsiders’ barredMeanwhile, in Shivamogga, senior BJP minister KS
Eshwarappa
had told authorities at McGann Hospital, the designated Covid facility, to display ‘no beds’ boards to deter patients from neighbouring districts seeking treatment in Shivamogga. He said after authorities put up the boards, “the number of outsiders decreased” at the hospital.
“Patients from neighbouring districts should not come to Shivamogga,” Eshwarappa said. “They have facilities in their respective districts. Our oxygen beds and ventilators are created as per our requirement. We are not able to meet demand for beds from people in Shivamogga itself under the current situation.” Amid the crisis, Bhadravati VISL’s oxygen plant began operations on Thursday, the minister said.