Gzb RWAs too told to arrange cylinders for O2, admin to refill and return them in 2 days

Ghaziabad: To deal with the oxygen requirement of Covid-19 patients in home isolation, the district administration has urged the residents’ bodies to arrange for cylinders collectively and provide them for refilling, instead of running to refilling centres individually. Officials said they would get them refilled and return to RWAs within 36-48 hours. In many cases, the kin of patients are not getting oxygen on time.
State-appointed nodal officer Senthil Pandian C, who held a meeting in this regard on Monday, said a collection and distribution point would be created in each of the five zones for this purpose, where RWAs can deposit their oxygen cylinders for refilling.
“We will need at least 100 cylinders for this purpose, as they will be sent outside the city for refilling. We hope to solve the problem of a large number of Ghaziabad residents in this manner. In case, any emergency need is raised by any person, we will try to attend to them as well and get oxygen cylinders refilled locally, but this new initiative is meant for people who can wait for one or two days,” Pandian told TOI on Tuesday.
Ghaziabad municipal commissioner Mahendra Singh Tanwar, who has been appointed the nodal officer for oxygen supply in the district, will oversee the execution of this initiative as well. He said the list of collection points in the five zones will be soon released and the Ghaziabad residents’ bodies would require to pay a nominal amount to avail this facility.
Sources said while Ghaziabad has demanded about 64 metric tonnes of oxygen per day from the state, it is currently getting around 48-50 metric tonnes. However, officials said the current supply is enough to deal with the prevailing demand of hospitals and to some extent of residents also.
Moreover, the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has procured about 70 oxygen concentrators under a corporate social responsibility (CRS) activity with builders and would distribute them to government Covid hospitals in the next couple of days. Pandian said with the help of oxygen concentrators, the number of ICU beds in government hospitals will be increased by 70-80 from the present 53.
Officiating district magistrate Krishna Karunesh, also the vice-chairman of GDA, said, “The oxygen concentrators will be installed at the ESIC Hospital and the community health centres (CHCs) in rural areas. It will help us in dealing with critical patients in a decentralised manner.”