Concentrator banks to come up across Capital

The Delhi government is setting up oxygen concentrator banks across the city to ensure Covid-19 patients being treated at home get access to oxygen therapy should they need it, chief minister Arvind

Kejriwal said on Saturday, adding that the machines will be delivered by officials.

The banks will be set up in all districts, the CM added. A senior Delhi government official said each of Delhi’s 11 districts will have at least 200 oxygen concentrators.

The district administration’s team of doctors will first ensure whether the person needs an oxygen concentrator or not. After their affirmation, the oxygen concentrator will be delivered to the patient’s home.

“If patients under home isolation require oxygen, our team will ensure the concentrator reaches their home within two hours. A technician will also accompany the team and explain how the oxygen concentrator is to be used. Apart from this, several people in recovery too are often advised to take oxygen at home for a few days, and such patients too, can get concentrators from these banks,” Kejriwal said.

NOIDA: Three men were nabbed by the Noida police Saturday for allegedly black marketing oxygen concentrators in the city and selling them at inflated prices.

The suspects have been identified as Hitesh Kalra, Abhishek Jain and Rahul Gudwani, residents of a highrise in Noida’s Sector 121. According to the police, the arrests were made based on a complaint on black marketing oxygen concentrators.

“Based on the information gathered, a decoy customer was sent to the suspects. They finalised the sale of a concentrator to our man for ₹1.65 lakh, which is way above the market value,” said Azad Singh Tomar, SHO of Sector 39 police station.

The suspects were nabbed from Sector 107. Police recovered three concentrators and bills.

“They purchased equipment from Delhi and Faridabad and some online. They claimed they had bought them for ₹85,000. The bills were copies of the invoice billed to customers, which bore amounts between ₹1.88 lakh to ₹1.99 lakh,” the SHO said.

The suspects were contacting people in immediate need of the equipment through social media groups and selling them at exorbitant rates,” said the SHO.

The suspects were booked under relevant sections of the IPC and the Disaster Management Act. They were produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.