"Inflated" Needs: Families Demand Fair Probe Into Delhi's Oxygen Deaths

Delhi was hit severely by a brutal second wave of coronavirus in April-May, that claimed a massive number of lives daily as hospitals struggled with oxygen supplies.

A day after the Delhi government came under fire for purportedly inflating the city's need for oxygen during the devastating second wave of coronavirus, families of those who died due to the shortage in the national capital have demanded a fair probe into it. A report of five-member sub-group constituted by the Supreme Court to audit oxygen use in hospitals in the national capital during the second wave in April-May said the Delhi government "exaggerated" oxygen consumption and made a claim of 1,140 tonnes, four times higher than the formula for bed capacity requirement of 289 tonnes. The panel said the Delhi government had made the claims for allocation of 700 tonnes of medical grade oxygen on April 30 using a "wrong formula". Erick Massey, whose mother Delphin Massey died at the Jaipur Golden Hospital allegedly due to oxygen shortage, said he doesn't feel there was an exaggeration in requirement.