Letter of Rajasthan HC Bar Association to the HC On Oxygen Shortage to be Treated as a PIL [READ LETTER]

The Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court Indrajit Mahanty has decided to treat the letter by Rajasthan HC Bar Association as a Public Interest Litigation. The letter raises concerns about the lack of supply of medical Oxygen in the COVID care centres of the state.

The letter by Bhuvnesh Sharma, the Bar Association President, says that patients are suffering in all districts of the state.

It is alleged in the letter that the Central and State government are not taking responsibility and is blaming each other for the failure. It is argued that amid these political quarrels the people of the state are the ultimate sufferers.

The letter states that there is a lack of coordination in the Centre and State government as they represent different political parties. The letter called for the intervention of the High Court to give directions to both the governments to ensure an uninterrupted supply of oxygen to the hospitals.

Accepting the request of the bar association the Chief Justice converted the letter into a Public interest Litigation and posted it for hearing today.

Deaths have been reported from different parts of the country due to the non-availability of medical oxygen to critical COVID patients. The death of 24 patients recently in Nashik hospital points to the importance of an uninterrupted supply of oxygen in the treatment of critical COVID patients.

While some are blaming the increased export of medical oxygen as the cause of the shortage, experts in the field opine that the production of medical oxygen is sufficient to meet the increased demand. The experts point to logistics and distribution bottlenecks as the cause of the felt shortage. It is also reported that the second wave of infections is characterised by the earlier appearance of symptoms like shortness of breath almost doubling the need for medical oxygen.

[READ LETTER]