A collage with a couple of images is being shared on social media linking it to the situation of COVID-19 patients in India. These photos show patients carrying oxygen cylinders along with them on roads. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photos representing the current need for oxygen cylinders among Indian COVID-19 patients.
Fact: The first photo in the post shows an old incident in Uttar Pradesh. In April 2018, this old woman was found carrying an oxygen cylinder outside the Agra Medical College hospital in Uttar Pradesh. The other photo shared in the post is related to Barishal city in Bangladesh. This photo shows a Bangladesh citizen carrying an oxygen cylinder on his back with his mother, taking her to the hospital in Barishal. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Photo-1:
On reverse search of the photo shared in the post, a similar visual was found in a video published by ‘ANI’ news website on 07 April 2018. This incident reportedly took place in 2018 at Agra Medical College in Uttar Pradesh. ‘ANI’ reported it as the visuals of an old woman waiting outside the Agra Medical College hospital for an ambulance service.
On searching for more details using these keywords, we found several news articles reporting this incident in April 2018. They can be seen here and here. These articles also reported it as visuals of a helpless old woman and her son waiting outside the Agra Media College emergency ward for an ambulance service. So, this image is of an old incident, and not related to the present situation of the COVID-19 patients in India.
Photo-2:
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published by ‘The Daily Star’ news website on 18 April 2021. This article reported it as the visuals of Barishal city resident Ziaul Hasan who was carrying an oxygen cylinder on his back in Bangladesh, along with his mother. This photo was captured while Ziaul Hasan was taking his mother Rehana Begum to Sher-e-Bangla Medical college hospital in Barishal.
News articles and media reports published about this incident in Bangladesh can be seen here, here, and here.
In the wake of a massive surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitals in India were running short of oxygen cylinders. A few hospitals stopped admitting the new COVID-19 patients due to the lack of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders. News articles published about the oxygen cylinder crisis can be seen here and here. Recently, 24 Covid patients have died because of the oxygen tanker leakage at a hospital in Nashik, Maharashtra.
To sum it up, unrelated photos are shared as visuals of Indian COVID-19 patients carrying oxygen cylinders along with them on the roads.
