Hundreds of lives saved with replenishment of oxygen in nick of time; crisis in Delhi persists
Covid patients continue to have nightmare in the national Capital for want of oxygen. Twenty-one of them died in Jaipur Golden Hospital, while it was touch and go affair for hundreds of others who survived due to replenishment of oxygen in the nick of time.
As oxygen supply began to run out and patients and TV channels screamed the plight of patients and their relatives, Batra Hospital in Delhi’s Tughlakabad Institutional Area received emergency oxygen supply from the Delhi Government moments after it exhausted its stock.
Similarly, many other hospitals received supply in the nick of time. The countdown for the next delivery is on.
Delhi’s Saroj hospital closed admission to patients on Saturday due to oxygen supply shortage. The Rohini-based hospital started discharging patients amid the crisis and closed new admissions. Doctor Mayur, who is the incharge of the Covid ward at the hospital, said the facility has 70 critical patients, and there could be a “big disaster” if the hospital doesn’t get oxygen in time.
The crisis turned catastrophic as 20 critically ill patients admitted at Jaipur Golden Hospital at Rohini, died overnight. “The oxygen pressure has dipped as we are running out of stock,” Dr DK Baluja, Jaipur Golden Hospital medical director, told PTI.
He said the hospital has over 200 patients and they had only half an hour of oxygen was left at 10:45 am. It received the last refill of oxygen around midnight, after hours of delay.
“Nobody has promised anything. Everybody is saying we will do our best,” the medical director said when asked if the hospital received any help from the Government. Dr Baluja said the hospital has over 200 patients and 80 per cent of them are on oxygen support. Around 35 patients are in the ICU, he said.
The hospital was to receive its quota of oxygen at 05:30 pm but the supply did not reach it till midnight. Even then, the hospital just received 40 per cent of its allocated quota and is again in a situation of crisis.
Incidentally, 25 Covid patients had died in elite Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Friday.
Executive Director of Batra Hospital, Sudhanshu Bankata, said the healthcare facility exhausted its oxygen stock at around 9 am.
“We received an emergency supply from the Delhi government during the day. It will last another one-and-a-half hour. Our supplier has not been responding to calls,” he said.
There are around 350 patients admitted in the hospital, of which 265 are Covid-19 positive and 30 are in the ICU.
In a similar situation, Apollo hospital received supply after UP police created a green corridor for oxygen carrying vehicle.
“Thank you UP Govt and UP Police for timely assistance and arranging a dedicated green channel for transportation of liquid oxygen for our #Covid-19 patients admitted at Indraprastha Apollo Delhi. This will greatly assist us in our fight against the second wave of the #pandemic,” Apollo Hospital tweeted.
“Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has 29 patients on invasive ventilation. To run ventilators oxygen reservoir should be 3,000 cubic meters. We are getting supplies of 500 to 1,500 cubic meters only. We have 516 covid patients, 129 in ICU and 29 patients on invasive ventilation. These 29 patients due to fewer supplies are on manual ventilation since midnight. This can not go for long . Staff is getting exhausted,” the hospital said in a statement.
“Today morning, our oxygen had almost finished when they gave 1.5 tons which is now at 0.7 tonnes , which will last for one hour only . Yesterday it was given in writing that INOX will start giving 9,000 cubic meters from midnight. In spite of being in crisis since 4 am, INOX did not fulfill its commitment and just supplied 1.5 tonnes at 5:30am,” it said.
However, the hospital administration said it has received a supply of 2.5 tonnes of oxygen.