New Delhi: The Fortis hospital located in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj has raised alarms on the shortage of medical oxygen in this hospital, where over 100 critical patients are being treated. The hospital said it has only six hours of oxygen supply remaining as it sought help from concerned authorities. Many Delhi hospitals in the past few days have issued similar SOSs in the wake of crippling oxygen shortage, appealing to the Kejriwal government for immediate help.
“The situation is very very serious. We have left with 6 hours of liquid medical oxygen backup. We have more than 100 critical patients on oxygen support. Our supplier is INOX, but we are unable to sustain with such a low supply. We are seeking urgent help from the concerned authorities to avoid the disaster,” the hospital authorities told CNN-News18.
India on Friday allowed the import of oxygen concentrators under the ‘gift’ item category, thereby exempting the crucial medical device from customs duty. Concentrators are used to provide oxygen to ease difficulty in breathing, as they extract concentrated quantities of oxygen from ambient air. The exponential rise in Covid-19 infections has lifted the demand for this medical equipment.
At present, the country faces a supply crunch in the availability of medical oxygen, thus, making their import essential. Besides, high demand for such equipment has led to rising prices, and the move is seen as an effort to curb the rising cost of this equipment.