NEW DELHI: Even though the central government announced the enhancement of Delhi’s oxygen quota, the actual supply of medical oxygen on Wednesday was much lower, leading to a rush of distress messages from Covid-designated hospitals in the city.
Claiming availability of only a few hours of the gas for oxygen-dependent Covid patients, hospitals approached the courts while some put out SOS messages.
Max Healthcare, which is treating 1,400 patients in its NCR hospitals, reported oxygen shortage across the units. “For the last few days, the hospital has been facing serious difficulties in procuring adequate and regular supplies of oxygen. Various branches in the network had 2-18 hours of oxygen left at 6pm on Wednesday, with Max in Shalimar Bagh and Patparganj barely left with 2-3 hours of stock,” said an official of Max Healthcare. The two hospitals received their supply later at night.
At Sir Gangaram Hospital, the alarm bells went off when the oxygen stock plummeted to five hours’ worth on Wednesday. While a private supplier delivered 45 cylinders, each of 7,000 litres oxygen, the anxiety wasn’t over. A hospital official said the gas supply crisis was an everyday happening. “While the hospital received around 10,000 cubic metres of oxygen, the demand is over 11,000 cubic metres, the official said. “We have calculated that the current reserve will last for another 12 hours and we will require a refill before 9am on Thursday.”
Hospital sources said that they have received assurance from the government, while private vendor, Indian Oxygen Limited, has promised refills.
Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals too was in dire straits. P Shivakumar, managing director, said in a statement that the hospital had been receiving many queries about the availability of medical oxygen supply for patients. “In this regard the hospital would like to highlight that it currently has only 10-12 hours of oxygen supply available for all its patients with no alternatives. This level is dangerously low with supply chain disruptions and delays being witnessed over the past week,” Shivakumar said.
The hospital strongly urged the various state governments and the Centre to assist the medical facilities in getting uninterrupted supply of the gas “to avert any catastrophic patient-related incidents”.
Some institutions have alleged that though private sellers are keen on restoring supplies, neighbouring states are creating obstructions. An official from Manipal Hospital, where 230 Covid patients are receiving treatment and which claimed just 12 hours of stocks left, alleged that Haryana officials took control of the private oxygen company that supplied to the Dwarka hospital and were not allowing replenishment.
Anil Vinayak, COO, Fortis Healthcare, pointed out that in terms of oxygen and bed availability, different parts of the country were in different stages of the curve. Delhi was suffering the maximum stress right now, he said. “Mumbai peaked about three weeks ago. Bengaluru and Kolkata show signs of reaching a similar stage as Delhi in some time,” Vinayak said, adding that the high absolute numbers and relatively more serious patients coming to hospitals, most requiring oxygen support, made Delhi’s current burden more stressful.
Smaller hospitals and nursing homes handling Covid patients also sent SOS messages. Dr Pankaj Solanki, who runs a private hospital in Rohini, expressed the anguish of hospitals which are now also being forced to deal with the oxygen crisis while managing an unprecedented health crisis. “I have never felt so disappointed. The oxygen crisis is worse than anything we have faced and it is adding to the mental pressure on functioning. No one is able to help and at least 100 calls are made daily for oxygen,” he tweeted.
Around 8pm, Rathi Hospital in Najafgarh, which has 78 Covid patients, put out a statement saying that the hospital was left with no oxygen supply. “We have 78 patients, and no helpline number is taking our calls. They are, in fact, ignoring and cutting our calls,” the hospital statement said. While the increased quota of oxygen from sources in West Bengal and Orissa will take another 72 hours to arrive in Delhi, the city is gasping.