The hospital’s oxygen came all the way from Rajasthan, about 800

kilometers away.
So it took three days to restore the supply. But by then at least 60
children had died.
An investigation by The Wire revealed that the oxygen ran out because
the supply had been cut off.
The state government had ignored payments for months.
The meters showed the “oxygen supply was stopped due to low
pressure.”
But the state government called it “an act of God” and didn’t take
responsibility.
The story caught India's attention.
Prime Minister Modi shared his condolences.
But the government did little to fix the gaps in the oxygen supply chain.
Three years later, covid reached India
and the daily consumption of medical oxygen gradually tripled.
For months the government received warnings of an impending
oxygen shortage and recommendations
that “plans be made to produce adequate oxygen.”
Finally, the government took bids to build 162 new oxygen plants at all
these major hospitals.
These plants would produce oxygen onsite for sick patients and keep
the fragmented supply chain from getting further strained.
But around the same time, as the result of a series of lockdowns,
infection rates started to drop.
By February, Prime Minister Modi started encouraging everyone to
return to normal life at their own risk.
And in April, when cases started to quickly climb up again,
he was out campaigning heavily ahead of state elections, bringing tens
of thousands of people together at political rallies.
Meanwhile, this deadly wave was sweeping across the country, killing
thousands a day.
We saw the most devastating and the most gruesome images, rows
and rows of bodies at the cremation ground.
That was how stark the disconnect was when people are dying
this is what is the priority of people from the ruling party.
The government’s misplaced priorities and lack of vigilance
emboldened thousands to attend mass events.
Even though the second covid wave raged on and reached some of the
highest case numbers in the world.
As covid cases surged, the need for oxygen went up again.
Major hospitals around the country began seeing thousands of covid
patients show up at their doors for treatment.
There were hospitals that would tweet to say that we're running out
of oxygen.
We don't have enough oxygen to sustain our patients for the next two
hours.
I request you. Please send oxygen to us. We need oxygen for our
patients.
Investigations revealed that the government had failed to keep its
promises.
Out of the 162 oxygen plants promised by the government, only 33
were functional.
That really begs the question of what was the government doing
during 2020?
They had celebrated a premature victory against the pandemic.
As India recorded the highest cases in one day anywhere in the
world, these oxygen gaps became even more dangerous.
India’s daily deaths, although significantly underreported, were in the
thousands across the country.
But now there were hundreds of additional deaths due to lack of
oxygen.
Like in Delhi, where in one weekend at least 50 people died due to
lack of oxygen.
Or in Maharashtra.
Or in Goa’s Medical College, where the central government promised
to build an oxygen plant that didn’t come.
GMC did not have an oxygen tank of its own.
So they were basically manually putting cylinders and connecting it
to make sure that the oxygen was reaching in the central pipeline.
The high court had to instruct the central government to intervene
and put up a plant.
And now it's been operational within like seven, eight days, but it took
them so many lives which have died because of lack of oxygen.
To meet the rising demand for medical oxygen, nearly all industries
redirected their supply to hospitals.
The government enlisted the Indian Air Force and Indian Railways to
deliver it.
And countries around the world sent equipment and tanks filled with
oxygen to help.
But these are just temporary fixes for a supply chain that still
struggles to transport oxygen that needs to reach everyone across
the country in a crisis.
The government has promised over 1,000 more oxygen plants to fill
the gaps.
But has yet to complete the original 162 it promised.
It's not people have lost their lives because of coronavirus. They have
lost their lives because of politics.
They've lost a life because of misplaced priorities of the government.
But what’s happening here isn’t a uniquely Indian problem.
As covid waves continue, oxygen shortages have become a problem in
countries like Nepal, Sudan and Argentina.
In fact, dozens of other countries need more oxygen.
Especially in the global south, where low vaccination rates are leaving
millions vulnerable to infection.
Not all countries will face a humanitarian crisis like India’s.
But India didn’t think it would either and failed to prepare when cases
were low.
 Dr. Fauci, what can we learn from India’s outbreak?
Don’t ever underestimate the situation.
The situation in India is a devastating reminder of what this virus can
do.
It’s very important to realize that the situation in India can happen
anywhere.