Ghaziabad: After a day of panic,
private hospitals in the city struggling to get
oxygen for
Covid patients got a breather, albeit a temporary one, on Thursday evening as the administration arranged for a few cylinders after desperate pleas for help.
But the crisis is far from over and at least two hospitals have advised families that patients be shifted elsewhere.
“We told officials that oxygen will get over in our hospitals any moment on Thursday and we told attendants to start shifting their Covid patients elsewhere because in case of any eventuality, we will not be responsible,” said Dr Raja Agarwal, director of Shanti Gopal Hospital in
Indirapuram. The facility has around 30 Covid patients and more than 25 are on oxygen support.
“We sought help from influential people and on social media as well. Finally, on Thursday evening, 15 cylinders were given to us. We have already exhausted four of them,” Agarwal added.
Chandra Lakshmi Hospital in Vaishali had discharged 25 patients as officials realised oxygen might not reach on time. “Thankfully, they arranged for 10 cylinders and we got five cylinders from different sources. We have been promised 10 more cylinders,” said Dr Mukesh Agarwal from the hospital, which has 110 beds.
Ghaziabad has 34 private hospitals and most of them have been running short of oxygen for the past few days. Yuvraj Singh from Avantika Hospital had a similar story to narrate. “At the last minute, the administration arranged for 11 cylinders. But the current stock will be over on Friday and then, it will be another battle for us,” he said. Shailendra Singh, additional district magistrate (city), who has been entrusted with the responsibility of helping hospitals get a steady supply of oxygen, was unavailable for comment despite repeated calls.