Court ‘last hope’ for oxgyen supplies

SUPPLIES of medical oxygen have hit hospitals hard, with many resorting to appeals on social media for help.

A court in New Delhi has become the last hope for many hospitals struggling to get oxygen for patients as supplies run low while state and central government officials bicker over who is responsible.

A two-judge bench of the Delhi high court has been holding almost daily video conferences to hear petitions from hospitals invoking India’s constitutional right to protection of life, with local and federal officials attending.

Last Sunday (2), with just 30 minutes of oxygen left for 42 patients at Sitaram Bhartia hospital, and new supplies nowhere in sight, the hospital approached the court as a “last resort” for help, lawyer Shyel Trehan said. The judges ordered the Delhi state government to arrange supplies.

“Oxygen cylinders arrived soon after the hearing, and a tank arrived a few hours later,” Trehan said.

The shortage of medical oxygen has plagued the city of 20 million people, with unprecedented scenes of patients dying on hospital beds, in ambulances and in carparks, gasping for air.

Delhi is recording about 20,000 new Covid-19 cases a day. As the health system buckles, the city says it needs 976 tonnes of medical oxygen daily, but gets fewer than 490 tonnes, given by the federal government.

Representatives of the ruling central BJP-led government, which is managing supplies nationally, have told the court they were doing all that was possible. They blamed the Delhi government, run by a rival party, for politicising the issue.

Last weekend, when Delhi state representatives again flagged concerns that oxygen supplies were not arriving in time, one of the judges, justice Vipin Sanghi, lashed out, saying “water has gone over the head. Enough is enough...”

In April, Sanghi told government officials they should “beg, borrow, steal or import” oxygen supplies to meet the city’s needs.

In many cases, volunteer groups have come to the rescue. Outside a temple in the capital, Sikh volunteers have been providing oxygen to patients lying on benches inside makeshift tents, hooked up to a giant cylinder. Every 20 minutes or so, a new patient came in.

“No one should die because of a lack of oxygen. It’s a small thing otherwise, but now, it is the one thing every one needs,” said Gurpreet Singh Rummy, who runs the service.