BENGALURU: It is not just patients or their relatives, who are breaking down unable to find oxygenated beds, but even hospital chiefs are cracking under pressure. Dr Jothi S Neeraja, CEO of People Tree Hospital in Yeshwanthpur, sobbed uncontrollably while talking to The New Indian Express as her hospital was severely short of oxygen on Thursday even as 100 critically ill patients were dependent on it.
“It was a nightmare for all of us. Our hospital looked like a war room as we were continuously making calls to get oxygen. All the doctors joined the search, making calls to oxygen suppliers, different hospitals and even elected representatives to help us out. We tried so hard that we all broke down as the lives of 100 patients were at risk.
I sent an SOS to many hospitals to accommodate these patients, but no beds were available anywhere,” she said. The hospital requires 3,000 litres of liquid oxygen every day. On Thursday, with the intervention of an elected representative, they got some oxygen stock. “But it will last only for 12 hours. What will we do after that? Once it is over, it will be the same story again.
All oxygen suppliers are saying that they don’t have stocks and we are not getting help from anywhere,” she said. The hospital has now decided to reduce the number of admission of patients dependent on oxygen. “We had 10 discharges on Friday, but we are not taking in new admissions, as we have no oxygen. We don’t want to risk the lives of patients,” she added.