Union Minister of State for Health Dr Bharti Pawar's statement in the monsoon session of Parliament has drawn criticism from the Union government. "No deaths have been reported in the country due to lack of oxygen," Pawar wrote in Parliament. Netizens, including opposition parties, have criticized the government. Meanwhile, a video of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is also going viral after this reply.
The Centre, while responding to a question by Congress MP KC Venugopal during the Parliament monsoon session on whether a large number of COVID-19 patients died on roads and hospitals due to acute shortage of oxygen in the second wave, said that no deaths due to lack of oxygen had been specifically reported by states/Union Territories during the second wave of COVID-19. In the written reply, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar stated that health is a state subject and accordingly all states/UTs report cases and deaths to the Union Health Ministry on a regular basis.
Congress leader and former minister Raj Babbar has tweeted a photo of Renu from Agra trying to give oxygen through her mouth to her husband in a rickshaw. Also, Renu had risked her life to save her husband. If she had got oxygen at that time, her husband's life would have been saved, said Raj Babbar.
She added, "Ignoring the advice of the Empowered Group and the Parliamentary Committee, no arrangement was made to provide oxygen. No activity was seen in setting up oxygen plants in hospitals."