Chhattisgarh Orders Audit On Deaths Due To Oxygen Shortage, Says Centre Lying

Speaking to NDTV, Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo claimed the central government never asked the state about the number of deaths due to oxygen shortage.

Days after the central government's statement in parliament that "no deaths due to oxygen shortage have been reported by states" during the second Covid wave, the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government has made an all-out attack on the centre. The Bhupesh Baghel-led government, which has said the centre is "lying", is also preparing to carry out an audit to list the deaths that happened due to the lack of medical oxygen at the peak of second wave. Speaking to NDTV, Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo claimed the central government never asked the state about the number of deaths due to oxygen shortage. "They only said provide the number of deaths in a day, deaths due to comorbidities, and types of comorbidity, or otherwise. The state government is conducting an audit of deaths recorded during the second wave to confirm if any patient died due to shortage of medical oxygen," he said. "There are two points to be made here. One - we have surplus oxygen, Two - there is no record that anybody in Chhattisgarh, whether in private or government hospitals, died due to the lack of (medical) oxygen. We are completely open to correcting our data."