Parliamentary Panel Asked Centre Last Year To Increase Oxygen Production: Report

The panel said the total number of government hospital beds in the country was "grossly inadequate" keeping in view the rising incidence of COVID-19 cases.

Months before the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, a parliamentary panel in November last year had suggested the centre to augment hospital beds and oxygen production.The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, chaired by Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, advocated that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority must take appropriate measures for capping the price of oxygen cylinders so that their availability as well as affordability is ensured. "The Committee also recommends the government for encouraging adequate production of oxygen for ensuring its supply as per demand in the hospitals," according to the report submitted in parliament in November last year.It said the total number of government hospital beds in the country was "grossly inadequate" keeping in view the rising incidence of COVID-19 cases.The panel noted that lack of hospital beds and inadequate ventilators further complicated the efficacy of the containment plan against the pandemic. "As the numbers of cases were on the rise, a frantic search for vacant hospital beds became quite harrowing. Instances of patients being turned away from overburdened hospitals due to lack of vacant beds became the new normal. The scenario of patients holding oxygen cylinders rushing from pillar to post in search of bed in AIIMS Patna is a testimony to the fact that tears apart humanity," it said. Aggrieved at the poor state of healthcare system, the panel recommended the government to increase the investment in public health and take appropriate steps to decentralise healthcare services/facilities in the country.