NEW DELHI: With numerous private and government hospitals in Delhi left holding only a few hours of oxygen and some not even that, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday urged the Centre to intervene and stop the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments from hoarding and monopolising the supply earmarked for the national capital.
He urged the Centre to ensure smooth supply even if that requires deployment of paramilitary forces.
“The reason behind the limited supply even today is the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments have created a jungle raj to stop oxygen supply from reaching Delhi. Delhi government officials have tried to talk to the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments but the situation remains the same. Our tankers are standing outside and only tankers from the Haryana government are being allowed to enter the plant in Haryana,” Sisodia said.
Delhi only received 177 metric tonnes of oxygen instead of its quota of 378 metric tonnes on Wednesday. Delhi’s quota has now been hiked to 480 metric tonnes. For hospitals that have exhausted all oxygen, Delhi government has made a makeshift arrangement.
Sisodia also wrote to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan alleging that tankers carrying oxygen to Delhi were unable to reach city hospitals because officials from the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh administrations and police were sitting in the oxygen plants in these states to stop the supply meant for Delhi. “I request you to ensure that the oxygen allocated for Delhi by the Centre reaches the capital without any delay for saving the lives of the patients admitted in Delhi’s hospitals,” Sisodia wrote.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj, who is admitted to a hospital with Covid, released a video from his bed, wearing an oxygen mask and gasping for breath. “The hospital in which I am admitted has only three hours of oxygen left. A lot of people are dependent on oxygen and, without enough oxygen, they will die like fish die outside water. It is a time for all to come together to work,” said Bharadwaj.
Earlier in the day, Sisodia said there was a fight for oxygen supply because even after the increase in Delhi’s quota, some states were stopping the supply. “Several hospitals in Delhi now see a dearth of oxygen supply. There is no oxygen left anymore. I have received many messages from hospitals — Saroj Hospital, Rathi Hospital, UK Hospital, Jeevan Hospital, etc, have informed they don’t have any oxygen,” he said, adding that Delhi government had been arranging cylinders for these and many other hospitals. “Internal arrangements are makeshift arrangements, which are not long-term solutions,” he added.
The majority of Delhi’s hospitals are reporting an acute shortage of oxygen due to hospitalisation of serious Covid-19 patients.