O2 crisis: 12 patients, including doctor, die in Delhi hospital
NEW DELHI: Twelve COVID-19 patients, including the HOD of gastroenterology department, of Batra Hospital here died allegedly due to oxygen shortage, officials said on Saturday.
“Once a patient is pushed to the edge without the support of oxygen, it is very difficult to revive him. Unfortunately, we are expecting more fatalities,” said Sudhanshu Bankata, executive director of the hospital. RK Himthani, head of the gastroenterology department, was among those who died due to lack of oxygen, said SCL Gupta, medical director of the hospital. Himthani had been admitted to the hospital for the last 15-20 days, he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed grief over the incident. “This news is very painful. Their lives could have been saved -- by giving them oxygen on time. Delhi should get its quota of oxygen. Can’’t see our people dying like this. Delhi needs 976 tonnes of oxygen, but it received only 312 tonnes yesterday. How will Delhi breathe in such a less amount of oxygen?” he said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the hospital had sent out an SOS message about oxygen shortage on Saturday. Gupta said they had informed the authorities about lack of oxygen Saturday morning when they had 2,500 litres of the life-saving gas left. Around 12.30 pm, the hospital authorities claimed they had run out of oxygen. The oxygen tanker arrived at 1.35 pm, they said, adding that they were without oxygen for 80 minutes.
In a related development, Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj has stopped taking admissions due to oxygen shortage. The hospital has four hours of oxygen left, sources said. According to the Delhi Corona mobile application, the hospital has 106 coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, Sehgal Neo hospital in Meera Bagh sent out an SOS message on Twitter about its dwindling oxygen.
A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said the Centre has to ensure that Delhi receives its allocated amount of oxygen “by whatever means” and warned that a failure to do so could lead to contempt action. The bench, which held a four-hourlong special hearing also directed that the senior officers be present before it on the next date of hearing on Monday if the allocated oxygen is not received by Delhi by the end of the day.
When Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma urged the bench to defer its order till May 3 or by half an hour, especially the warning about initiating contempt proceedings, it declined to accept his request and said, “Much water has gone above the head. Now we mean business. Enough is enough.”
“You (Centre) made an allocation, you fulfil it. Do you mean we will shut our eyes to people dying in Delhi? Enough is enough now. Who is asking for a gram more of oxygen than is allocated? If you cannot supply, do not supply. We will see your explanation on Monday,” it added.