NEW DELHI: Twenty-five "sickest" COVID-19 patients have died at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here in the last 24 hours, and the lives of another 60 such patients are at risk, officials said on Friday, amid a serious oxygen crisis unfolding in the national capital.
A source said "low pressure oxygen" could be the likely cause for the deaths.
"The oxygen stock will last another two hours. Ventilators and BiPAP machines are not working effectively," a senior official at the hospital said.
"Lives of another 60 'sickest' patients at risk. Major crisis likely," he said.
The hospital authorities are resorting to manual ventilation in ICUs and the emergency department, according to the official.
There are more than 500 coronavirus patients, including around 150 on high flow oxygen support, admitted in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital located in central Delhi.
On Thursday night, the hospital officials had sent an SOS to the government, saying there's only five hours of oxygen left at the healthcare facility and requesting that it be replenished urgently.
"At 8 pm, oxygen in store is for five hours for peripheral use till 1 am and less for high flow use. Need urgent oxygen supplies," an official had said.
The hospital had received some oxygen around 12.30 am, but the stock had to be supplemented later, sources said.
"A tanker carrying two tonnes of oxygen is stuck near Ambedkar Hospital," a source said.
This comes amid several private hospitals in Delhi struggling to replenish their oxygen supply for coronavirus patients for the third consecutive day on Thursday and requested the city government to transfer such patients to other healthcare facilities.
While some of the hospitals managed to make short-term arrangements, there is no immediate end to the crisis in sight, a government official said.
In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said six private hospitals -- Rathi Hospital, Santom Hospital, Saroj Super Specialty Hospital, Shanti Mukund, Tirath Ram Shah Hospital and UK Nursing Home -- had exhausted their oxygen supply by Thursday evening.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital sent an SOS to the government, saying there was only five hours of oxygen left at the healthcare facility at 8 pm.
"The oxygen in store is for five hours for peripheral use till 1 am and less for high-flow use. We need urgent oxygen supplies," an official said.
There are 510 COVID patients, including 142 on high-flow oxygen support, admitted in the hospital located in central Delhi.
The administration at Shanti Mukund Hospital, a 200-bed facility in east Delhi, even put up a notice at the entry gate, reading: "We regret we are stopping admission in hospital because oxygen supply is not coming."
An official of the hospital said the oxygen supplier could not be contacted.
"There are 110 coronavirus patients in the hospital. We have no option but to send them to other hospitals," he added.
In the afternoon, officials at Rohini's Saroj Hospital said they have run out of oxygen supply.
"The backup too will not last long. Of the 120 patients in the hospital at present, 70 are in a critical condition," an official said, adding that many lives will be lost if oxygen supply did not reach the hospital in time.
Dr Sanjeev Sharma, chief operating officer at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute, said the facility had six hours of oxygen left at 10 pm.
"Supply from Faridabad has been blocked, but the vendor has committed to giving us more oxygen tonight," he said, adding that 71 patients are on oxygen support.
Officials at the 210-bed Mata Chanan Devi Hospital sent an SOS to the Delhi government as the "oxygen supplier did not fulfil commitments".
"Around 40 patients are in the ICU. We got 500 kg oxygen last night. The supplier was supposed to give more at 4 am, but they are not answering phone calls since then," ICU head Dr A C Shukla said.
"With the Delhi government's intervention, we have got 21 D-type cylinders, but a continuous supply is needed. The situation is very serious," he added.
Meanwhile, some hospitals received fresh stocks overnight and more is likely to come in soon.
Dr Suresh Kumar, the medical director at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, said three tankers carrying oxygen reached the facility last night.
A spokesperson of the St Stephen's Hospital said they received fresh supplies on Wednesday evening.
Sisodia alleged that the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police were blocking oxygen transportation to Delhi and urged the Centre to ensure normal supply even if that meant taking the help of paramilitary forces.
This "jungle raj" has been going on for three days, he said, referring to the alleged blocking of oxygen supply.
"Some hospitals in Delhi have run out of oxygen completely. They do not have any option available. I have been receiving calls, messages, e-mails. We have been making internal, makeshift arrangements, but this cannot continue for long," the deputy chief minister said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government is making efforts to airlift its enhanced quota of oxygen supply from Odisha.
He also urged the Centre and the Haryana government to facilitate a "smooth passage" of vehicles carrying medical oxygen to Delhi.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has been arranging oxygen cylinders not only for hospitals in the national capital that are running out of the gas but also for COVID patients who are in their homes during the ongoing lockdown.
According to police, SHO Mukherjee Nagar along with his staff arranged three oxygen cylinders in the night from Mayapuri plant and delivered them to a family of three COVID patients -- Gurudatt Bhola (62), Gauri (57) and Karan (25).
Police said they received a call from a woman who informed them about their condition.
The SHO managed to arrange cylinders from Mayapuri and delivered to the house of the patients on Wednesday around 11.45 pm.
In another incident of Mukherjee Nagar, the SHO received a call from a woman who lives at Vasant Kunj.
She said that her parents have tested positive for the COVID-19 and asked police to send them breakfast.
Thereafter, police sent breakfast having milk, bread, biscuits etc.to the elderly couple, Naresh Chand Mehata (75) and Shashi Mehta (72) in Dhirpur Village, police said.
Similarly, sub-inspector Naveen and head constable Vijay arranged an oxygen cylinder for a 43-year-old COVID patient Rahul Gupta in Tri Nagar in northwest Delhi, they said.
A 66-year-old patient in Kohat Enclave area was also in need of oxygen cylinder.
Police said that the patient's family member called them on Thursday around 9.30 am and requested to arrange a cylinder.
Thereafter, SHO Subhash Place along with his staff enquired at several areas and managed to arrange an oxygen cylinder and delivered it to Gurmeet in Kohat enclave, they said.
In southeast district of Delhi, police received a PCR call on Wednesday where the caller, Anjana Goswami, a resident of Vasant Kunj, informed that her mother was in a serious condition due to COVID and desperately needed oxygen, a senior police officer said.
"Beat officer head constable Vijender Singh from Kalindi Kunj police station made his utmost efforts and arranged an oxygen cylinder for the patient at her home and provided his personal contact number for further assistance," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) R P Meena said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said he received a call from a senior citizen in Greater Kailash who asked for help with oxygen cylinder as nobody was there to take care of him and his wife.
An oxygen cylinder was immediately provided to him.
Also, the lives of over 200 COVID-19 patients were saved on Thursday after police managed to arrange oxygen cylinders for the Fortis Hospital in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, officials said.
At around 11.05 am, an e-mail was received from Mahipal Bhanot, the zonal director of the hospital, saying the healthcare facility was running out of its oxygen stock, which would last only three-four hours, they said.
"A truck with 1.5 tonne oxygen from Bawana and another with 2.5 tonne oxygen from Rajasthan's Bhiwadi were duly escorted by our teams and the vehicles reached the Fortis Hospital in time," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Usha Rangnani said.
Another SOS call was received from the Park Hospital in west Delhi's Khyala, where 100 COVID-19 patients are admitted.
Station House Officer (SHO), Vikaspuri Mahendra Singh Dahiya contacted an oxygen plant at Mundka but only three cylinders could be made available from there.
However, 27 oxygen cylinders were arranged for the hospital from an oxygen plant in Mayapuri, a senior police officer said.
According to the police in north Delhi, they managed to arrange 20 oxygen cylinders from Bawana and another 10 from a Moti Nagar refilling centre for the NKS Super Specialty Hospital after it approached the police at around 1 pm, saying its oxygen stock would last for only two-three hours.
In Shahdara, a team from the Anand Vihar police station saved the lives of around 110 critical COVID-19 patients by providing 2,300 kg liquified oxygen to the Shanti Mukund Hospital from INOX Air Products in Uttar Pradesh's Modi Nagar, the police said.
The hospital authorities informed the police that due to a deficiency of liquified oxygen, the lives of the COVID-19 patients were in danger as they had oxygen for only two-three hours.
"In view of the critical situation, our police team approached the higher officials of INOX Air Products and instructed them to supply the requisite 2,300-kg liquified oxygen to the hospital within an hour.
They agreed, but said the supply cannot be delivered on time due to the long distance," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahadra) R Sathiyasundaram said.
The Delhi Police then contacted the IG, Meerut range and in coordination with the Uttar Pradesh police, a green corridor was created for the truck containing oxygen from Modi Nagar to Delhi, the officer said.
The vehicle escorted by police personnel reached the Shanti Mukund Hospital in two hours, he added.
(With PTI Inputs)