Deaths of COVID-19 patients due to a lack of medical oxygen is a "criminal act and not less than a genocide," the Allahabad High Court in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh said on Tuesday.
Local media reports a two-justice bench of the state's top court made the observation during a hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the coronavirus situation in Uttar Pradesh, one of India's worst-affected states during the devastating second wave.
“Death of Covid patients just for non supplying of oxygen to the hospitals is a criminal act and not less than a genocide by those who have been entrusted the task to ensure continuous procurement and supply chain of the liquid medical oxygen,” the court said citing social media videos showing people begging for oxygen tanks and others hoarding them.
“We find these news items showing a quite contrary picture to one claimed by the Government that there was sufficient supply of oxygen,” the court said, adding it "finds it necessary to direct for immediate remedial measures to be taken by the government”.
Meanwhile, a court in New Delhi has become the last hope for many hospitals in the country's capital struggling to get oxygen for COVID-19 patients as supplies run dangerously short while government officials bicker over who is responsible.
A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court has been holding almost daily video conferences to hear petitions from hospitals invoking India's constitutional right to protection of life.
Local and federal officials are attending.
The court's intervention has saved lives, lawyers say.
On Sunday, with just 30 minutes of oxygen left for 42 virus patients at Sitaram Bhartia hospital, and new supplies nowhere in sight, hospital authorities approached the Delhi court as a "last resort" for help, lawyer Shyel Trehan said.
The judges ordered the Delhi state government to immediately arrange supplies.
"Oxygen cylinders arrived soon after the hearing, and a tank arrived a few hours later," Ms Trehan said.
The shortage of medical oxygen has plagued the city of 20 million people for about two weeks, with unprecedented scenes of patients dying on hospital beds, in ambulances and in carparks outside, gasping for air.
Delhi is recording about 20,000 new COVID-19 cases a day.
as COVID-19 infections surged past 20 million in the world's second-most populous country and the opposition leader said a nationwide lockdown was now the only way out.
With 3.45 million active cases, India recorded 357,229 new infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths rose by 3,449 to 222,408, health ministry data showed.
With hospitals running out of beds and oxygen and morgues and crematoria overflowing, experts say the actual numbers could be five to 10 times higher.
"The only way to stop the spread of corona now is a full lockdown ... GOI’s inaction is killing many innocent people," opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter, referring to the government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, widely criticised for allowing religious festivals and political gatherings attended by hundreds of thousands of largely unmasked people, is reluctant to impose a national lockdown for fear of the economic fallout, but several states have imposed social curbs.
As the health system buckles, New Delhi says it needs 976 tonnes of medical oxygen daily, but gets less than 490 tonnes, allocated by the federal government.
Representatives of Mr Modi's government, which is managing supplies nationally, have told the court they were doing all that is possible, and blamed the Delhi government, run by a rival party, for politicising the issue.
The panel of two judges, Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, has heard lawyers for Mr Modi and the local administration spar over oxygen quotas, transport problems and a lack of tankers.
And sometimes, the judges have lost their cool.
Over the weekend, when Delhi state representatives again flagged concerns that oxygen supplies were not arriving in time, putting patients' lives at risk, Justice Sanghi lashed out at officials, saying the "Water has gone over the head. Enough is enough...enough is enough."
Health officers counts empty oxygen cylinders for refilling at an oxygen plant in Government Amrit Kaur Hospital in Beawar. Source: Pacific Press/Sipa USA
In late April, Mr Sanghi pulled up government officials, saying they should "beg, borrow, steal or import" oxygen supplies to meet the city's needs,
He said the state "cannot say 'We can provide only this much and no more,' so if people die, let them die".
'Like water for fish'
Both governments, federal and that of Delhi, are facing criticism for not being adequately prepared for the surge in infections.
Since late April, some of the city's best hospitals have asked the court for help.
"Not only is this unprecedented, but right now this (court) hearing is literally like water is for fish," said Prabhsahay Kaur, another lawyer who approached the court for a hospital's oxygen needs and got help.
Still, scenes of desperation, urgency and frustration play out every day.
At one hearing last week, a lawyer for the local government called an oxygen supplier by telephone, putting the call on speaker, to ask why cylinders had not reached one hospital, while the judges patiently listened to the answers.
On Sunday, one lawyer broke into arguments to say his hospital had just one hour of oxygen supplies left, while simultaneously another person pleaded that patients could "start dying" at his facility.
Minutes later, another loud voice said: "One hundred and forty patients. One hour left. We are in trouble ... there is a crisis," as a judge tried to calm the speaker and urged state authorities to take immediate action.
In another exchange, a home ministry official said its officers were working on a war footing and sought the blessings of the court.
India's Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the federal government, said, "We desperately need ... God's blessings".
