Expert panel’s report lends oxygen to BJP-AAP blame-game

NEW DELHI:  A report suggesting that the Delhi government had inflated the oxygen demand during the peak of the second wave when the city was facing a supply crisis has triggered a fresh round of altercation between Aam Aadmi Party and BJP.

The consumption of 1140 MT claimed by Delhi government was four times the consumption calculated according to bed capacity (289 MT), said the interim report of a Supreme Court constituted sub-group headed by AIIMS-Delhi Director Randeep Guleria.

While BJP leaders, including Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar and Delhi BJP chief Aadesh Gupta, mounted a heavy attack on the AAP government accusing it of “criminal negligence” and grabbing the share of other states, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a strong emotional pitch in his defence while taking a swipe at the Centre.

“My crime - I fought for the breath of my two crore people. When you were doing election rallies, I was awake all night arranging for oxygen. I fought and pleaded to get oxygen for people. People have lost their loved ones due to lack of oxygen. Don’t call them liars, they are feeling so bad,” Kejriwal tweeted. His deputy Manish Sisodia, however, questioned the very existence of any such report.

“Where is this non-existent report? Is there a report which has been signed and approved by members of the Oxygen Audit Committee? The BJP has crossed all its limits in spouting blatant lies,” said Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s nodal minister for Covid-19, other than being the minister for education.

Claim by govt vs audit panel

Five-member group constituted by SC to audit oxygen consumption in hospitals during 2nd wave noted “discrepancy” in actual consumption claimed vs calculated consumption

Delhi govt’s claim of 1,140 Metric Tons was four times more than the calculated consumption as per
bed capacity formula, which was 289 MT

The Delhi government made claims for allocation of 700 MT oxygen using a ‘wrong formula’ on April 30

Singhal, Aruna Asaf Ali, ESIC Model and Liferay hospitals claimed extremely high oxygen consumption with very few beds

DELHI WANTED 4 TIMES EXTRA SUPPLY

According to the interim report of the SC-appointed sub-group, actual oxygen consumption claimed (1140MT) by Delhi was about 4 times higher than the consumption by formula for bed capacity (289MT)

WHY THE DIFFERENCE

• The formula used by Govt of India assumes that only 50% of the non-ICU beds use oxygen. However, the formula used by the Government of Delhi assumes that all non-ICU oxygenated beds use oxygen.

• The Delhi government said that its formula is based on ICMR guidelines but no such guidelines were

• placed before the subgroup.

• It was noted that four hospitals in Delhi i.e. Singhal Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, ESIC Model Hospital, and Liferay Hospital have claimed extremely high oxygen consumption leading to significantly higher oxygen requirement for entire state.

MEMBERS OF THE SUB-GROUP

Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS New Delhi
Subodh Yadav, Joint Secretary, DoWR Jal Shakti Ministry, Govt of India
Bhupinder S Bhalla, Principal Secretary (Home), Govt of NCT Delhi
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, Controller of Explosives, PESO
Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Clinical Director & Director, Internal Medicine, Max Healthcare, Delhi

PESO STUDY KEY FINDINGS*

The study was conducted from 5 May- 11 May 2021 and and involved collection of data twice a day (PESO did not collect data from April 20 onwards till the end of the month when the city saw highest crisis for liquid oxygen in hospitals which also led to death of Covid patients in many hospitals):

Actual requirement of Delhi is much less than what is demanded.

With Delhi receiving excess oxygen, other states like Rajasthan, HP, UP, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab and even J&K are suffering badly

Average daily consumption was reported between 284 MTs to 372 MTs

THE NEED FOR O2

1140 MT
liquid medical oxygen requirement based on actual oxygen consumption of 183 hospitals as per Delhi govt

209 MT
liquid medical oxygen requirement after correcting erroneous reporting by 4 hospitals

289 MT
liquid medical oxygen requirement based on recommended oxygen consumption as per GOI formula

391 MT
LMO requirement as per recommended oxygen consumption as per Delhi government’s formula