Several private Covid hospitals in Lucknow have put up notices accusing Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the Centre of failing to provide oxygen and requested families to shift patients elsewhere, prompting some helpless relatives to bemoan a “non-existent government”.

In the notice pasted at its gate on Wednesday afternoon, Mayo Medical Centre at Gomti Nagar and Make Well Hospital and Trauma Centre said: “After repeated request to the UP CM/Central Govt, we are not able to get enough oxygen supply. Hence we are requesting the family members of those patients who are on oxygen support (to) please take their patients to (a) higher centre for further management. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience.”

Hours later, 10 jumbo oxygen cylinders were sent to Mayo Medical Centre from the government-run King George’s Medical University.

Nishant, the manager of Make Well Hospital, told The Telegraph: “We have made some arrangements for the 44 patients in our hospitals and hope that the government will resume the supply of oxygen by Thursday morning.”

Shantived Institute of Medical Sciences said in an “urgent announcement”: “Even after repeated requests to the appropriate authorities, continuous/regular supply of oxygen cannot be maintained. In the midst of this pandemic the supply and demand ratio remains unmet. In this scenario the safety of patients on continuous oxygen support cannot be overlooked.

“…We request the family members of all patients on oxygen support to please transfer within the next hour the said patients to any centre where continuous oxygen supply can be ensured. We regret this deplorable situation and the inconvenience caused.”

The majority of government and private hospitals in Uttar Pradesh are facing an acute shortage of oxygen at a time Covid cases have ballooned. The state reported 33,106 cases on Wednesday, the highest after Maharashtra. The death toll for the day was 187, although overflowing crematoriums and graveyards have spawned allegations that the real number of deaths was being hidden.

When journalists reached Mayo Medical Centre to report about the notice and interview crying relatives of patients, a middle-aged woman came out of the hospital around 5.30pm and said: “I cannot let people die in my hospital. I can show you a WhatsApp group in which the state and the central government have added us for providing quick support to those suffering from Covid-19. We are frantically trying to tell them to provide us the promised oxygen or the patients would start dying soon. They are silent.”

The woman didn’t reveal her identity but said it was the decision of the hospital management to speak out.

A source in Mayo Medical Centre told this newspaper: “When the state government turned us into a dedicated Covid hospital five days ago, we were promised more than 400 oxygen cylinders. But we have got less than 100 cylinders till date. We have at least 40 patients who need round-the-clock oxygen. Tomorrow, the government will ask us how the patients died and put us in jail. It is better for us to speak up now.”

The source said, before the 10 cylinders arrived, that since most relatives had not taken away their patients, “we have made some personal arrangements that will last a few hours”.

Asha Verma, the relative of a patient who was crying inconsolably and trying to call someone for help, told reporters: “Where will I take my patient now? He cannot survive even for five minutes without oxygen. I beg the hospital to take whatever money is required from me and provide oxygen to my patient. I know the government is non-existent. But doctors are seen as gods.”

The situation was dire at Balrampur Hospital and Civil Hospital in Lucknow, the two biggest government health facilities in the state capital. While the families of several relatives took their patients elsewhere, the hospital staff refused comment.

Some relatives of Covid patients said they were having to pay between Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000 for an oxygen cylinder, while the actual cost was about Rs 1,200.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath held a virtual meeting with officials in the evening and said: “There should be sufficient beds, oxygen, medicines, equipment and health workers in every district. Ensure uninterrupted supply of oxygen in every hospital.”

Himself in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, Adityanath said: “Responsible officers should be deployed at the oxygen refilling centres. The oxygen tankers should be connected with GPS. Deploy police at the (oxygen) plants. There shouldn’t be black marketing of oxygen and those who are doing so should be booked under the Gangster Act and the National Security Act.”