Ahmedabad: The answer at Rajya Sabha revealed that Gujarat had 15,203 oxygen beds in March 2021, just before the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic hit the country.
Between April 2020 – only the start of Pandemi – and March 2021, Gujarat had added 11,142 new beds, increasing the number 3.71 times than 4,061.
Comparing numbers with other countries and India revealed that it was one of the lowest increase in the number of beds – nationally the number of beds increased 4.3 times – from 62.458 to 2.7 lakh.
Madhya Pradesh recorded a 19 times, while for Telangana it rose 10-fold.
While the State Health Commissioner Jai Prakash Shivahare is not available for comments, a written statement with the state government in the High Court has mentioned the number of oxygen beds available at the age of 61,000 in June, which is claimed by the state government for 1.1 lakh Third wave.
The number of existing beds cannot be ascertained.
The same answer mentioned a four-fold increase in ICU beds in Gujarat in one year from 1.292 to 5,070.
Oxygen beds increased 3.7 times in Gujarat
