Amid a rise in Covid cases, the Delhi Government has stepped up preparations, including arranging hospital beds, medical oxygen and medicines, officials said on Wednesday and asserted that the situation is "fully under control" in the city.
"The Government has arranged an adequate number of hospital beds, medical oxygen and medicines although hospitalisations are very low," officials said during a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday.
“Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is keeping a close watch on the Covid situation and is in constant touch with top officials to ensure that the infection is controlled and preparations are in place to meet any eventuality,” they said.
According to figures, only 80 beds (0.82 per cent) of the total 9,737 beds in hospitals here were occupied. The occupancy of oxygen-supported beds was 0.64 per cent, ICU beds 0.91 per cent, and ventilator beds 1.03 per cent. Of the total 1,729 active cases on April 18, just 40 were hospitalised, 12 were on oxygen support, nine were in ICU, five in ICU on oxygen support and one was on ventilator.
The Arvind Kejriwal Government has a target to scale-up hospital beds to 37,000 of which 31,622 were ready by April 19. Out of total 10,594 ICU beds, 9,274 have been readied, official data showed. Officials said availability of all drugs for the treatment of comorbidities and other medicines related to Covid has also been ensured.
The medical oxygen infrastructure has also been scaled up to over 991 MT by April 19 while it was 730 MT till May 31 last year. A buffer stock of 442 MT of liquid medical oxygen was also readied by the Government. A total of 97 PSA oxygen plants were running in the city with a combined capacity of over 116 MT, they said.
Two cryogenic bottling plants with a capacity of 12.5 MT have been installed that can refill 1,400 jumbo cylinders per day, they said. Shortage of oxygen had claimed many lives in Delhi during the second Covid wave in 2021. Officials said work has also been awarded for the delivery of 15 LMO tankers, of which one tanker has been received.
Three more will be delivered by the end of April. While one tanker will be delivered by May 15, five tankers will be delivered by June 19, officials said during the meeting. The Government has also maintained an operational fleet of 240 CATS ambulances for aiding patients. Besides, 65 ambulances have also been hired.
The fleet of ambulances is planned to be raised to 350 shortly, they added.