Covid-19: Oxygen shortage reason for high fatality rate in Karnataka's Haveri district

HAVERI: While Chamarajanagar district garnered all the attention on the issue of Covid-19 deaths due to lack of medical oxygen during the peak of the deadly second wave, a death audit report submitted by an expert committee suggests Haveri district may had more deaths due to lack of liquid medical oxygen.
The district, one of the most backward in the state, has the highest fatality rate and the committee suggests most of the deaths were due to poor health infrastructure, including lack of oxygen facilities.Haveri district has a fatality rate of 2.9%, the highest in the state. So far, while 22,152 have contracted the infection since the pandemic broke, 641 have succumbed to the virus. In the second wave, the district recorded roughly 12,000 cases and about 450 patients died.
To find out reasons for the deaths, Dr KV Trilok Chandra, commissioner, health and family welfare department, had set up a team of experts to conduct a death audit. The team comprising Dr Basavaraj Kallapur and Dr Ishwar Hasbi from Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Hubballi, and Dr Sampath Singh Rangawale, National Quality Assurance Standards nodal officer, Belagavi division, inspected hospitals and conducted a detailed inquiry. The team submitted its report to the government recently.
On reasons for the high number of deaths, the report says the district administration “failed to tackle oxygen issues during the second wave”. It said all district and taluk hospitals faced an acute shortage of liquid oxygen in May, when the second wave was raging. Oxygen flow in ventilators “were not at expected levels”. “An oxygen audit has not yet been done by the health department or the district administration,” the report states.
Pointing to the report, Dr Sanjay Dange, spokesperson, Haveri district Congress, said: “The government should initiate disciplinary action against district administration officials who failed to do their duty properly.”