NEW DELHI: After a brief respite, oxygen shortage was reported at a couple of hospitals in the national capital on Thursday. Though the supply of oxygen is comparatively better in the city, some hospitals and nursing homes sent out SOS messages pleading for help on social media and flagged their dwindling stock of oxygen.Shegal Neo Hospital (Paschim Vihar), on Thursday tweeted that it had left with oxygen, which could last for just one hour adding that 70 patients are on oxygen support.
“Currently, we are operating on a dangerously low supply which can lead to serious patient incident including loss of life, 13 of our patients are in the ICU or on the ventilators/ Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and their lives will be under threat in case oxygen supply is interrupted,” said the letter accompanied the tweet signed by hospital’s manger (finance and information technology) Pradeep Bansal. Till late evening, the facility hasn’t received the supply and hence stopped new admissions.
Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neuro and Allied Sciences (VIMHANS) in south Delhi also announced that it had run out of the liquid oxygen supply. The administration said that the hospital was using oxygen cylinders for the patients. At that time, 203 patients were admitted. Jeewan Hospital in Karol Bagh and Rosewood Hospitals also raised alarm over their depleting stocks of oxygen.
Besides hospitals, relatives and friends of Covid patients, who are under observation at homes, were also seen scurrying to procure oxygen stock throughout the day. Huge crowd was spotted at gas refilling centres and Gurudwaras, where the gas was being provided without cost. The Delhi government has already released an email ID for hospitals to raise grievances about gas shortage and allocation.
Raghav Chadha, senior AAP MLA, who is monitoring oxygen supply to several hospitals, on Thursday, reiterated that the Centre should increase oxygen allocation to meet rising daily demand of the gas. “As per the Central Government’s formula, the appropriate amount of oxygen required for hospitals in Delhi is 976 metric tonne (MT). Delhi has been allocated only 490 MT and the actual supply is even lesser at 400 MT,” he said while addressing a digital briefing. Chadha further said,“Delhi did not even get half of its demand. According to the Centre’s calculations, the national capital should receive 970 MT oxygen.”