A journalist recently tweeted what the founder of a diagnostic lab told her: “This is the best time to be a politician or an IAS officer in Delhi. At least they are getting beds.” Having spent the past couple of weeks trying to help COVID-19 victims find medicines, beds and oxygen, I cannot agree with him more. Not only hospital beds, these politicians and bureaucrats and also police are in control of even the oxygen supplies and medicines.With no rational and equitable system in place to ensure that the most needy get first access to hospitals, medicines and oxygen, people are dying outside hospital for want of care as much as due to shortage of beds and equipment, as due to the fact that a lot of essential medicines and supplies have been stocked up by the influential people – without having any right to do so.Also read: The Virus and the Math of Vaccine, Votes and WorshipIn fact, during the hearing on the matter of shortage and hoarding of oxygen, medicines and hospital beds in Delhi, the Delhi high court bench had questioned the right of politicians to stock up on medicines and give them to only people known to them or belonging to the constituency.In view of suspicion of largescale diversion of oxygen into the black market, the Delhi high court had on Monday also directed the Delhi government to take over a major oxygen filling plant of Seth Air.On Tuesday, the high court took up the issue of diversion of Covid medicines and countered the Delhi government’s claim that only 2500 vials were supplied to the city, saying the number was actually 52,000.A good effort with the wrong spiritWhen the issue came up, the bench of Justices Vipin Sandhi and Rekha Palli asked if BJP MP from East Delhi, Gautam Gambhir, has the licence to stock and deal with COVID-19 drugs. The court had posed the question to Delhi government counsel after another lawyer, Rakesh Malhotra, pointed out that the “elected representative” was distributing Fabiflu and had also tweeted about it.A COVID-19 patient receives free oxygen, provided by a Sikh organization at Indirapuram Gurudwara, in Ghaziabad, Saturday, April 24, 2021. Photo: PTI/Atul YadavDuring the hearing, Malhotra told the court, “This issue needs to be addressed. Although he is doing a good job, when some patients of other areas are not getting but patients of East Delhi are getting it, it is an issue.”But blaming Gambhir alone would not be correct. Politicians from all parties have been actively trying to portray themselves as “corona warriors” or “corona saviours” by getting oxygen supplies or medicines delivered to the doorstep of those seeking help from them.This begs the question that how is it that when people in dire need of oxygen and medicines like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab or Fabiflu are not finding them with any chemists, these people have ready supplies of these available with them.On Tuesday, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi MP Sanjay Singh tweeted that when Laxmi Nagar MLA Kuldeep Kumar received a call from a person who needed an oxygen cylinder for his son, he himself delivered it at his residence.ये @AamAadmiParty के MLA @KuldeepKumarAAP हैं रात 2 बजे मेरे पास लक्ष्मी नगर से फ़ोन आया बेटे के लिये Oxygen चाहिये और @KuldeepKumarAAP ने स्वयं जाकर Oxygen सिलिंडर पहुँचाया। pic.twitter.com/A3ScbieyPY— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) April 27, 2021While the MLA probably helped saved someone’s life, can we say with any surety that it was not at the cost of someone else’s? In these times, many people have been stocking up on these essential medicines and oxygen when they should not – because the availability is limited and people are dying in the absence of getting them.There can be no justification for such acts. This act of stocking up is abhorrent, or probably even worse than that of those indulging in black-marketing. While in the latter case, the supplies at least come into the system, driven by the hunger for profit, but when people stock up for some future need, it is not necessary that they would release the supply for someone’s benefit.There is also the Indian Youth Congress president, Srinivas B.V., who has emerged as a messiah for many. He has been active on Twitter, and with the hashtag #SOSIYC, he has been making himself available to all those in need of assistance in providing beds, oxygen or even ventilators.However, Srinivas, who remained flooded with all kinds of requests – including those for Remdesivir vials – made it clear that he would only be able to provide facilities or assistance in relation to government-run hospitals and not private ones.#Important:- Anyone in #Delhi looking for COVID bed in a government hospital (Not in Pvt Hosp.) can drop me a DM or tag.We will try to get admitted as many people we can. #SOSIYC— Srinivas B V (@srinivasiyc) April 15, 2021This again brings to the fore a question on how he has access to government hospital beds when even the well-heeled and the influential are struggling to access them.Blockade of suppliesAs far as the supply of oxygen goes, there appears to be another reason for its shortage apart from the nearly 600% surge in demand due to the increase in Covid-19 cases. In the absence of proper coordination among the Centre, the Delhi government and the various agencies involved in the setting up of Covid facilities in Delhi, a lot of the supplies are getting blocked in new facilities while there remains an urgent need to reach out to patients coming to existing hospitals. There have been numerous cases of people dying outside the hospitals as their oxygen cylinders ran out before they could get admission.Family members of COVID-19 patients wait to fill their empty cylinders with medical oxygen outside an oxygen filling centre, as demand for the gas rises due to spike in coronavirus cases, in Lucknow, Friday, April 23, 2021. Photo: PTI/Nand Kumar.On the other hand, Covid facilities like the one that has been created at Radha Saomi Satsang Centre in Chhatarpur in South Delhi have also been struggling to provide admission to people in the absence of adequate oxygen supply. Simultaneously, cylinders and medicines stocked up in advance for new facilities are also denying patients in immediate need of much-needed supplies.Also read: Youth Sought Oxygen for Grandfather via Tweet, UP Police File Criminal Case Against HimWhile liquid oxygen is being supplied through cryogenic tankers to hospitals, many of the hospitals have also been facing a shortage of oxygen cylinders which they also need for transferring their patients. Recently Sir Ganga Ram Hospital pointed out how it had been struggling to get its cylinders refilled and was down to a few. Though it later received the supply with the help of some “Good Samaritans”, not all hospitals and individuals have been that fortunate.At one of the oxygen cylinder refilling plants in Naraina Vihar, the staff has over the last few weeks working round the clock to meet the insatiable demand for oxygen of the city. Police were deployed outside the facility as people lined up to get a refill for loved ones gasping for breath at home. The problem was compounded as some of the hospitals, like Pentamed in Model Town, ran out of supplies and urged relatives to get cylinders for their patients.This kind of shortage has also forced some of the hospitals to stock up on more supplies than they immediately need. And this too has been impacting the supply chain.On Tuesday, a friend of mine, Dennis Escrader lost his father as he could not arrange an oxygen cylinder or hospital bed for him, despite the fact that he was earlier undergoing treatment for a lung disorder in Apollo Hospital. After his father tested positive and the non-Covid hospital did not admit him, Escrader searched everywhere for a Covid bed but could not find one. He arranged medicines and concentrator for him at home, but the low oxygen pressure could not sustain his lungs for long.These cases only highlight the need to have a rational policy in place so that a patient’s need gets preference over influence, and a manmade scarcity does not lead to loss of precious lives.