Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia The supply of oxygen to Delhi has been slipping once again in the last two days, with only 487 metric tonnes of oxygen received on May 7, flagged Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Saturday.
On Friday, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud had, taking note of a submission of deficient supply of oxygen by the Delhi government, directed the Centre to supply 700 MT of medical oxygen to Delhi every day till further orders and had warned that it will pass orders against officials if this is not done.
In a press conference Saturday, Sisodia said May 5 was the first time that Delhi had received more than 700 MT of oxygen — it had received 730 MT of oxygen on that day — but supply has been slipping after that once again.
“I have said repeatedly that at the current moment, with all the hospitals and current number of beds, Delhi requires 700 MT of oxygen daily. If that is provided, it is sufficient for the current requirement and if we want to further increase our capacity, we require 976 MT. On May 5, for the first time, Delhi got 730 metric tonnes of oxygen. For that we are thankful to the central government. But after that, once again, on May 6 we got 577 and yesterday we got 487. It is very difficult to manage the oxygen supply of hospitals with 487 MTs because there is a demand of 700 MT. The Supreme Court has also directed that Delhi’s requirement be met… I request the central government with folded hands that — the way it assisted us on one day with more than 700 MT of oxygen — to please ensure minimum supply of 700 MT,” he said.
The number of SOS calls for oxygen had dropped from 16 on May 5 to 9 calls on May 6. As per the oxygen bulletin for May 7 released by the Delhi government, supply of 488 MT of oxygen amounted to 70% of the demand for the day. It recorded that 10 oxygen SOS calls were received on Friday, which affected 2,569 oxygenated beds. Among the hospitals to raise calls on Friday were Irene Hospital, Kalkaji; Sir Ganga Ram Kolmet Hospital; Batra Hospital and Kukreja Hospital.
Sisodia also said the Delhi government’s plans to further increase its medical infrastructure would create higher oxygen requirements in the future.
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