After SOS from Amritsar hospitals, officials of three districts work overnight to deliver oxygen

Two pleas for oxygen, the hunt for a technical expert, a flurry of phone calls, and seamless coordination between officials of three districts led to the saving of possibly hundreds of lives in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday in Amritsar.

According to officials, the chain of events started on Tuesday night after two Amritsar-based hospitals sent out SOSs for oxygen.

The pleas were received by the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Amritsar, Dr Himanshu Aggarwal, who immediately swung into action and dialed Hoshiarpur administration for the supply of oxygen, on the instructions of Chandigarh oxygen control room. There was, however, a problem. The officials needed a technical expert who could perform decanting from tank to tanker (reverse operation). Soon, after senior officials of Chandigarh got involved and the Jalandhar ADC (Development) Vishesh Sarangal was tasked to find a technical expert.

Acting promptly, Sarangal took the help of SDM Jai Inder Singh and DIC GM Deep Singh and started the hunt for an expert, the search which ultimately led the trio to one Rashpal, a technical expert of PIMS. A team contacted Rashpal at his residence around 2.45am and quickly explained the entire situation to him. Rashpal was requested to perform the decanting exercise in Hoshiarpur, for which the team arranged a vehicle and logistical support for him. Rashpal immediately rushed to the Hoshiarpur oxygen plant, where he started decanting oxygen from tank to tanker. Within an hour, liquid oxygen supply of 5 MT was dispatched to Amritsar around 4am on Wednesday.

Contacted, ADC Vishesh Sarangal said that for them saving lives was paramount. “We as a team were determined to come through and deliver the oxygen timely to the hospitals,” he said. Sarangal also highlighted the special efforts made by Jalandhar commissionerate of police for locating the address of the technical expert, besides lauding Hoshiarpur DC Apneet Raiyait and the IAS officer in-charge of oxygen monitoring and supply in Punjab, Showkat Ahmad Parray, for personally monitoring the whole incident and ensuring seamless coordination between authorities, until oxygen was dispatched to Amritsar.