Delhi: Portal to record oxygen supply, consumption status every 2 hours

NEW DELHI: Amid the oxygen crisis overwhelming the capital’s hospitals, Delhi government has started a portal that will record the status of supply from the manufacturers to the hospitals and that of consumption every two hours.
The portal seeks to ensure that Delhi government gets to know where shortage may occur to divert resources in that direction before any crisis.

The hospitals will give their consumption data for the past two hours while the suppliers will disclose how much oxygen was supplied during that period. “Since our oxygen supply is limited, managing what we have is of utmost importance. Efficient management can help save lives,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.
Due to the sudden surge in Covid cases, all hospitals in Delhi, big and small, have been facing an acute oxygen crisis. After 20 Covid patients died in Jaipur Golden Hospital in west Delhi on Friday night due to shortage of oxygen, the Centre on Saturday increased Delhi’s daily oxygen quota from 480 to 490 metric tonne, but the city currently needs 700 metric tonne.
In a press conference on Sunday, the chief minister said Delhi had received constant support from the Centre and both governments were working tirelessly to ensure a steady supply of oxygen.
But “our daily requirement of oxygen is 700 tonne, and we receive 480 tonne from the central government. On Saturday, the Centre allotted 10 additional tonne, increasing our share to 490 tonnes of oxygen”, Kejriwal said. “However, even this allotment is not reaching Delhi. On Saturday, only 330-335 tonnes of oxygen reached Delhi. As a result, we are receiving only half of what we require, which is a huge impediment in the recovery of Covid-positive patients,” he added. “We are working continuously to ensure oxygen reaches where it is required.”
The chief minister underlined that he didn’t claim that all efforts had been successful. “In some cases, we have failed, and in others, we have managed to ensure that oxygen reaches the designated destination,” he said, expressing his “heartfelt gratitude to everyone who is involved in these nightlong efforts”.
Saying that the Centre and Delhi government are working tirelessly to ensure a steady supply of oxygen, Kejriwal said Delhi government had received constant support from the Centre. “The coming days should see less confusion and chaos on this matter. We are constantly working to try new avenues of sourcing oxygen over and above what the central government is supplying,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday urged hospitals in the capital not to raise alarms unnecessarily over oxygen shortage and appealed to the media to verify such claims before carrying it, reports PTI. Such acts hamper efforts to provide help to hospitals that really need assistance, said Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister for Covid-19 management in Delhi.
“This morning, I got an SOS call from a hospital that had 18 kilo litres of oxygen in stock,” he tweeted. The hospital requires 4.8 kl a day and has a storage capacity of 21 kl, meaning it still has three days of supply left, the minister stated.