An Indian court is urging the government to take action as hospitals are screaming for help News

The government is using the railroads, air force and navy to deliver oxygen tanks to the worst-hit areas, where overcrowded hospitals are unable to cope with the unprecedented increase in patients who are short of air.

Twelve patients with COVID-19, including a doctor who was taking high-flow oxygen, died Saturday at a hospital in New Delhi after 80 minutes of running out of supplies, said SCL Gupta, director of Batra Hospital.

The Times of India reported 16 more deaths at two hospitals in southern Andhra Pradesh and six at Gurgaon Hospital on the outskirts of New Delhi due to lack of oxygen.

As the government could not maintain a stable supply of oxygen, several hospital managements went to court in the Indian capital, where the blockade was extended for a week to contain a wave of infections.

“The water has gone overhead. Enough is enough,” the New Delhi High Court said, adding that it would start punishing government officials if oxygen supplies to hospitals were not delivered.

“We cannot allow people to die,” Judges Vipin Sangi and Rekha Patil said.

The court said it would open a contempt case.

New Delhi has recorded 412 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest since the pandemic.

The army has opened its hospitals to civilians in a desperate attempt to control a massive humanitarian crisis. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also given emergency financial powers to the army to set up new quarantine facilities and hospitals and purchase equipment.

The military has also called in 600 doctors who have retired in the past few years. The Navy has deployed 200 paramedics in civilian hospitals, a government statement said.

On Saturday, India said all adults over the age of 18 could be vaccinated. Since January, nearly 10% of Indians have received a single dose, but only about 1.5% have received both, although the country is one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers.

India has so far given more than 156 million doses of the vaccine. Some states have already stated that they will not be enough at all, and even constant efforts to vaccinate people over 45 are not happy.

The United States, Britain, Germany and several other countries are rushing to India with therapeutic agents, rapid tests for viruses and oxygen, and with some of the materials India needs to increase domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines.