Hospitals keep checking their supply meters

NEW DELHI: Hospitals in the national capital on Sunday continued to remain on edge, operating with precariously low oxygen supplies, waiting endlessly for refills and resetting the clock again to count the hours for which the replenishment will last.

The Delhi government-run Lok Nayak hospital — the biggest Covid-19 facility in the city — was running on backup stock after running out of its main supply. The hospital received supply around 10am when it had just two hours of stock. The medical director of Jaipur Golden Hospital where at least 20 patients in critical care died of alleged low oxygen pressure on Sunday, had to refuse new admissions over erratic supplies.

The Pentamed hospital in Model Town sent out an SOS on Twitter around 11.30am, saying it had oxygen stock that will last only for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, after an all-night scramble for an oxygen refill, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital received five metric tonnes of medical oxygen in the early hours of Sunday, hospital officials said.

The Delhi high court on Saturday asked the Centre and the Delhi government to coordinate on the issue of making medical oxygen available to hospitals treating Covid-19 patients, observing that citizens cannot be left to die. The court also made it clear that the efforts which Delhi government has to make in this regard cannot be trivialised and they should not leave it entirely to the central government.

While some hospitals have managed to make short-term arrangements, there is no immediate end to the crisis in sight. Metro Hospital, in Gurgaon, claiming to be in its “last leg of medical oxygen”, made an urgent appeal for help to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and other ministers on Sunday.

The Delhi government on Sunday announced setting up a portal on which real time information relating to oxygen supply and stocks will be made available.