Delhi's Ganga Ram Hospital says only 45 minutes of oxygen left, lives of over 100 patients at risk

The hospital said it had made at least four SOS calls in a span of 24 hours and it was in crisis mode with alarm bells ringing continuously.
Staff of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital after panic strikes over shortage of oxygen. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
Staff of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital after panic strikes over shortage of oxygen. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

NEW DELHI: Sending out yet another SOS, Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) said on Saturday night that the lives of more than 100 patients were at risk as it was left with just about 45 minutes of oxygen supply.

The hospital said it had made at least four SOS calls in a span of 24 hours and it was in crisis mode with alarm bells ringing continuously.

The premier private hospital said the lives of more than 100 patients were at risk as it was left with just about 500 cubic metres of oxygen that would last for just about 45-60 minutes.

According to the hospital, it has a daily consumption of 10,000 cubic meters of liquid oxygen.

The hospital has resorted to manual ventilation and is in need of an urgent refill of liquid oxygen, officials said.

SGRH has been getting oxygen supply through tankers for the past few days while it has been making efforts to set up its own oxygen plants amid what it called below-contracted delivery from its suppliers.

This comes a day after the hospital announced that 25 COVID-19 patients had died at the facility.

Sources had said "low-pressure oxygen" could be the likely cause of the deaths in SGRH, one of Delhi's biggest and most high-profile hospitals.

However, SGRH chairman Dr D S Rana said later on Friday, "It is wrong to say the deaths occurred due to a shortage of oxygen. We provided oxygen to the patients manually when the pressure dipped in the ICU." 

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