BENGALURU: It’s not often you hear elected representatives describing their experience in crisis management as ‘scary’, but that is exactly what it was for Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan in the early hours of Thursday.
Thanks to his efforts and timely intervention, a repeat of Chamarajanagar-like tragedy, where deaths occurred due to oxygen shortage, was averted in Bengaluru. The lives of 200 patients on oxygen support at KC General Hospital in Malleswaram were saved in the nick of time because of the diligence of doctors, nurses and medical staff, led by Dr Renuka Prasad, the prompt response by the police and, above all,
Ashwath Narayan’s efforts to procure oxygen from an alternative source.
Around 12.45 am on Thursday, Ashwath Narayan received an SOS from KC General Hospital that their scheduled oxygen supply had been delayed. The hospital was expected to receive the oxygen supply from a private company in Ballari, but it was delayed. What triggered the panic was that the oxygen levels at the hospital, which has a storage capacity of 6 tonnes, had dropped to 0.5 tonnes by late on Wednesday night.
Ashwath Narayan, also the MLA from Malleswaram, swung into action to identify manufacturers who could supply oxygen on an emergency basis and contacted Universal Company located at Dabaspete, around 50 km from the city.
While the DCM requested for 20 jumbo cylinders, the company agreed to send an oxygen tanker to the hospital. The police were asked to clear the traffic for the tanker to move, and it reached the hospital in little over an hour. By 5 am, the hospital’s oxygen tank was refilled to 5.5 tonnes.
“It was a very scary scenario. A delay in the hospital’s supply led to a cascading effect. We stayed up all night to ensure oxygen reached on time. Doctors monitored each patient’s requirements to ensure oxygen lasted till the refill arrived,” he added.
Ashwath Narayan, who is also the chief of Taskforce on Covid, said that manufacturers too are hard-pressed because of heavy demand for oxygen. “Bengaluru has one manufacturing unit, Tumakuru one, Ballari four and Koppal one. All of them are stretched. It is all touch and go to manufacture, manage and supply oxygen. Lives are on the line,” he said.