Covid surge: Oxygen shortage reported in several Delhi hospitals
Premium- Five hours of oxygen left at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital as 58 COVID-19 patients are admitted there
St Stephen's Hospital in the Tis Hazari area in Delhi is under acute shortage of oxygen with supply left for only two hours, said an official from the hospital.
"There are around 300 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. There is a limit of only two hours of oxygen supply. We are struggling and seek immediate help. Oxygen supplier Linde India has stopped our supply," a hospital official told news agency ANI today.
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Meanwhile, five hours of oxygen left at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital as 58 COVID-19 patients are admitted there including 10 in the intensive care unit (ICU). 35 patients await admission to the hospital, the news agency further added.
According to an official, Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital at Pusa Road had five hours of oxygen left around 4:30 pm. There are 58 COVID patients, including 10 in ICU, in the hospital.
"The vendor, as per its representative, is not being allowed by the Haryana government to supply oxygen cylinders and liquid oxygen to Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital, Pusa Road. Supply left is sufficient only for five hours," the official said.
He said the Centre needs to intervene as a large number of hospitals are affected due to the "stoppage of oxygen supply from Haryana".
A spokesperson of St Stephen's Hospital said they had only two hours of oxygen left around 4 pm.
"The Haryana government has not been allowing our vendor to supply oxygen to us. Of the 350 patients in the hospital, around 200 are on oxygen support," he alleged. An official at the Holy Family Hospital in Okhla also claimed that the state neighbouring Delhi has stopped their tanker carrying oxygen. "Only a few hours of oxygen left. We are trying three-four vendors for fresh stock," he said.
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Some major government and private hospitals in Delhi received a fresh stock of medical oxygen in the early hours of Wednesday, averting a crisis just in time, according to officials.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital received 4,500 cubic metres of oxygen supply from a private vendor before 3 am. Another supplier sent 6,000 cubic metres of it later.
This stock should last till 9 am on Thursday, an official said.
All the 132 ICU beds in the hospital are occupied and only three of the 487 non-ICU beds in the facility are vacant.
An official at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital confirmed that a truck carrying oxygen from a firm reached them around 1:30 am. Dr Suresh Kumar, the medical director of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, said a truck carrying oxygen from a vendor reached the facility around 3 am.
Both these hospitals have 400 ICU beds each and all of them are occupied.
Ambedkar Nagar Hospital received a fresh supply of oxygen at 5 am which officials said can last for 24 hours.
Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia told ANI," Another issue is of transportation of oxygen, I have received a report that a local administration officer in Faridabad, Haryana stopped a truck transporting oxygen, which delayed the supply."
He further added that "Yesterday also, we faced a similar transportation issue, we had to call a senior Cabinet minister, only after he helped that Oxygen transport to Delhi was started."
P Shivakumar, MD, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals on oxygen supply shortage said,"The situation is quite grim. We've supplies that will probably take us till midnight today. If we don't get replenishment on time there can be a serious crisis."
A record 28,395 coronavirus cases and 277 deaths marked the aggravation of the pandemic situation in Delhi on Tuesday.
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