Oxygen crisis deepens in Karnataka with 7 allegedly die in Kalaburagi and Belagavi govt hospitals
Administration claims no shortage of oxygen
Bengaluru, May 4: Oxygen crisis deepened in certain parts of Karnataka on Tuesday, with the deaths of seven COVID patients in Kalaburagi and Belagavi allegedly due to oxygen shortage.
According to sources, four people died in the morning in Kalaburagi government hospital and three in Belagavi government hospital allegedly due to shortage of the life saving gas.
However, Mining and Geology Minister Murugesh Nirani, who is in-charge of Kalaburagi district, dismissed the allegation saying that those who died had COVID infection at an advanced stage.
These incidents came close on the heels of deaths of 24 COVID patients in the last two days in Chamarajanagar district hospital allegedly due to oxygen shortage.
However, leader of opposition and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who visited Chamarajanagar district hospital on Tuesday, claimed that 28 and not 23 people had died in the hospital from Sunday morning to Monday morning.
He alleged the incident reflected badly on the governance and demanded the resignation of health minister Dr K Sudhakar for the poor handling of the COVID-19 situation.
Taking a serious view of the oxygen shortage, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday assigned the Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar to arrange oxygen supply and coordinate with the Centre to get the state's quota of oxygen.
Meanwhile, in Bengaluru a few hospitals raised an alarm against the oxygen shortage to treat the critically ill COVID patients.
An executive of the Chaitanya Medical Centre in Yelahanka said there was an oxygen crisis on Monday due to which they had to shift all their COVID patients to other hospitals.
"Now we have got the stock of oxygen, which would last for two to three days, but yesterday we shifted all our patients to other hospitals as the stock had exhausted," the executive said.
Medax Hospitals in RT Nagar here had also flagged the shortage of oxygen.
In his letter to the relatives of the COVID patients, the medical director of the hospital Dr Srihari R Shapur wrote that the facility was running out of oxygen and asked them to make necessary arrangements in other hospitals.
"This is to inform you that we are running out of oxygen supply. We are unable to provide oxygen care for the patient.We have been informed since May 1 6 pm. We will shortly run out of oxygen by 5 pm on May 3. Kindly arrange for beds in different hospitals. We regret this situation," Dr Srihari stated in the letter.
Rajmahal hospital too wrote to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (city corporation) stating that the vendor company was not supplying oxygen despite repeated requests.
"In this scenario, managing 30 plus COVID patients is becoming a challenge.We need your immediate intervention and assistance to tide over the situation," the manager of the hospital said in the letter.
The Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh too expressed concern over the paucity of the life-saving gas in Rajarajeshwari Medical College in the city.
In his video message on Monday, he asked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to arrange oxygen for the COVID patients.
Karnataka on Tuesday reported 44,631 new COVID-19 cases and 292 deaths, taking the caseload and fatalities to 16,90,934 and 16,538 respectively, the health department said.
The state has 4,64,363 active cases.
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LIVE | Election Results of five states 2026
New Delhi: The countdown has begun for the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in five states that have captured the attention of people across the country.
The counting of votes for the Assembly constituencies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry will begin simultaneously at 8 am, and the fate of candidates in a total of 824 constituencies will be decided shortly.
The counting of postal ballots will take place first, followed by the counting of EVM votes in several rounds.
► In Kerala’s Kasaragod constituency, UDF candidate Kallatra Mahin Haji is leading by 4,177 votes over NDA candidate M. L. Ashwini
► ADMK leader in Tamil Nadu, followed by TVK, DMK takes third spot. PMK, CPI, Congress lead in one seat each
► In West Bengal, TMC is leading in 111 seats, while BJP is leading in 119 seats.
► Vijay’s TVK leading in over 80 seats in Tamil Nadu, emerges as single largest party in early trends
► In Assam, BJP is leading in 71 seats, while Congress is leading in 26 seats.
► Kerala: UDF leading in 21 seats, LDF second, leading in 11
► Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala faces a setback in Kerala’s Haripad constituency
► Thrissur: Congress’ Rajan J Pallan leading with 6,460 votes; CPI candidate Alankode Leelakrishnan second with 5113 votes
► Out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP is leading in 109, TMC in 89, Congress in 5, others in one seat.
► DMK candidate in Thiruchirapalli KN Nehru behind TVK's G Ramamoorthi by 292 votes
► The BJP has taken an early lead in West Bengal, while Mamata Banerjee faces tough competition
► TVK head Vijay leads in Perambur constituency
► M. K. Stalin is leading in Tamil Nadu’s Kolathur constituency.
► AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami is leading in Tamil Nadu’s Edappadi constituency
► In Puducherry, BJP is leading in 3 seats.
► In Assam, BJP is leading in 56 seats, while Congress is leading in 12 seats.
► Suvendhu Adhikari leads in both Bhabanipur and Nandigram
► West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee faces setback in Bhabanipur constituency
► Bhupen Borah, who recently left Congress and joined the BJP, is leading in Assam’s Bihpuria constituency
► Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is leading in Jalukabari constituency
► BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is leading in West Bengal’s Nandigram constituencyFive-state elections: Postal vote counting begins
► TMC, BJP lead in one seat each in West Bengal
► In Tamil Nadu, DMK leads in 3 constituencies, while TVK leads in 1
► UDF leads in 5 seats in Kerala, BJP in 1, LDF in 1
► BJP leads in 2 seats, AIUDF in 1 in Assam
► AINRC leads in 1 constituency in Puducherry
► TMC leads in 5 seats in West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee’s party maintains initial lead
► Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin leads in Kolathur
► BJP takes early lead in Assam
► Congress-led UDF leads in Kerala
► Tamil Nadu, TVK chief Vijay leads in the Perambur constituency, lags in Tiruchirappalli South
► BJP leads in 10 seats in Assam
► LDF candidate V.P.P. Mustafa leads in the Thrikkaripur Assembly constituency
► Out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP is leading in 14 seats, TMC in 12 seats, Congress in 2 seats
► Out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, DMK is leading in 15 seats, AIADMK is leading in 5 seats, TVK is leading in 2 seats
► Out of 126 seats in Assam, BJP is leading in 31 seats, Congress in 4 seats, AIUDF in 2 seats.
► Out of 30 seats in Puducherry, NRC+ is leading in 3 seats, Congress in 2 seats, TVK in 1 seat.
► Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suffers a setback in theBerhampore constituency in West Bengal.
