Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Delhi government would, with the help of the Centre, import 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France and 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok, to ensure a steady supply of oxygen in hospitals across the Capital.
He thanked the Centre for allotting five additional oxygen tankers to Delhi and said that within the next month, the Delhi government will install 44 oxygen plants out of which eight plants will be installed by the Central government.
“We are trying our level best to increase the amount of oxygen available in Delhi. It has been noted that the oxygen allotted to us by the Centre is also not reaching us in its entirety. A major issue facing us today in the supply of oxygen is the shortage in the number of tankers,” he told a digital briefing.
“Even when we find oxygen, transporting it to Delhi becomes a problem because of shortage of tankers. The Delhi government has decided to import 18 tankers from Bangkok, which will start reaching Delhi starting Wednesday. For this, we have requested the Centre to lend us air force planes,” the Chief Minister also said.
Steady supply
The 18 tankers from Thailand, he said, will aid the transportation of oxygen and ensure that the amount of oxygen allotted to the city reaches it. Additionally, he said, the Delhi government is importing 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France. These will be installed in different hospitals in Delhi ensuring a steady supply at least in those hospitals.
Last week, he said, he had written letters and reached out to many Chief Ministers and industrialists in the country asking for aid and had received a positive response from many of them. Most of them, he said, wished to remain anonymous.
“This is an example of their nobility, to give with no ulterior aim of seeking the public’s affection. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the people and organisations that are helping us tide over these tough times,” the CM said.
“Last week -- Thursday, Friday and Saturday -- was particularly critical for Delhi. Oxygen was running especially low and we were fearful of a major mishap. We spent nights trying to arrange for oxygen to aid COVID-19 patients. However, from then we have seen a major improvement. The number of SOS messages received from hospitals has reduced,” he also said.
The Central government, which is also importing a lot of tankers for transportation purposes, had allotted five additional tankers to Delhi. Within the next one month, the Delhi government will install 44 oxygen plants in Delhi, Mr. Kejriwal said.
Installation of plants
Within this, he said eight plants will be installed by the Central government by April 30 and 36 plants are being installed by the Delhi government, of which 21 are being imported from France and the remaining 15 are from within the country.
“Today, I visited the Ramleela Maidan in front of GTB Hospital. We are trying to convert that into an ICU bed centre with a capacity of 500 beds. Around 200 ICU beds are being readied at Radha Soami Satsang Beas,” he said. “A total of 1,200 ICU beds will be ready by May 10, I believe they will relieve the load from the hospitals and aid the people of Delhi,” he also said.