The Delhi Police has assisted and supplied over 13,000 metric tonnes of oxygen to several hospitals and Covid positive patients after distress calls were received from them regarding the shortage of oxygen and its cylinders, amid ongoing pandemic.
According to Chinmoy Biswal, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Delhi Police, so far 13161.257 Metric Tonne oxygen has been transported to Delhi from several plants up to May 5.
“Around 2,440 tankers with oxygen have already arrived in Delhi till date. As on May 05, 331 oxygen tankers containing 3978.264 metric ton of oxygen have already arrived at Delhi Cantonment, Tuglakabad and Okhla railway stations through special oxygen trains from Gujarat, Orissa, Jharkhand and other states and further distributed to various hospitals of Delhi,” said Biswal.
“As lives were at immediate stake, it was an anxious situation for Police too. On 18 April, the Outer District police got the first SOS call from Mansa Ram hospital that oxygen stocks would last only an hour while no supply was coming. Around 35 covid patients were on oxygen support. Nihal VIhar police station teams rushed out to find some local oxygen suppliers, contacted a facility in Bawana and got 20 cylinders to the hospital just in time to save the lives,” said Biswal.
“After this, police across the city were running to arrange oxygen cylinders for hospitals in acute crisis, who would make frantic distress calls to police for help.
Soon the hospital started relying on police to make arrangements for supply, including liaison with cross-border oxygen plants and getting tankers from the plants to the hospital in crisis,” said Biswal.
Delhi Police Commissioner, S N Shrivastava also held a meeting with the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and urged them to make an arrangement so all requirements and emergencies should be flagged to a helpline to coordinate with oxygen supply tankers and filling stations.
Further to ensure the emergency oxygen supplies’ coming to the National Capital from other states reaches its destination within the time, the Delhi Police’s Police Control Room (PCR) unit provided the security and escort to the oxygen tankers starting from the plants to cut the travel time and hassles.
“The PCR unit under Special Commissioner of Police, Operations as Nodal Officer ensured all help, support and security as well as “Green Corridor” to all oxygen tankers during their transportation from various oxygen plants outside Delhi to Hospitals in Delhi,” said Biswal.
“Around 55 PCR vehicles with 20 Sub Inspectors and around 100 police personnel were deployed to escort the oxygen tankers from borders to various destinations by making green corridor with the help of district and traffic police,” said Esha Pandey, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), PCR unit.
“More than 40 PCR vehicles were engaged to escort oxygen tankers from various plants located at the above mentioned locations up to Delhi border to supply the same to various hospitals in Delhi.
Round the clock arrangements were made to transport oxygen tankers from above plants to Delhi and around 348 police personnel provided on route security to all oxygen tankers from the manufacturer’s sites to Delhi,” said the DCP.
“Three Assistant Commissioners of Police and four Inspectors were deployed at Panipat, Surajpur, Palwal and Modi Nagar plants to oversee the transportation arrangement and to brief the pilots/escorts engaged with the transportation of oxygen tankers,” she added.
Further to ensure the supply of oxygen to hospitals, on the direction of the CP, a WhatsApp group named “Oxygen Movement” was created.
“The group has over 80 participants. Any SOS raised by any hospital is escalated to the concerned officers and the situation is resolved immediately. Replies are given on queries on resolution.
As most of the SOS are raised by smaller hospitals who depend on refill of cylinders, it is ensured that their regular and urgent need of liquid oxygen is met and the plants remain operational for the maximum time,” said Biswal.
During the oxygen crisis, besides attending the SOS call the police teams also provided support to the hospitals who were writing on social media regarding the oxygen shortage.
“All tweets tagging the CP and Delhi Police related to oxygen shortage particularly from the hospitals are being monitored to act upon,” said Biswal.