Delhi sets ball rolling to find closer O2 suppliers
New Delhi: As the Delhi High Court on Friday continued to monitor the oxygen crisis in the Capital, the Delhi government informed it that it was in the process of formulating a plan to re-allocate oxygen suppliers so that the life-saving medical oxygen can fulfil Delhi's requirements in time.
The bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli on Friday had to take up the matter once again, when two more private hospitals in the city approached it with urgent petitions seeking oxygen supplies be restored. The two hospitals were Batra Hospital, which was reporting oxygen shortages as late as 7 pm, and the Brahm Multispeciality hospital.
So far, five hospitals have approached the high court this week seeking oxygen supplies amid the crisis.
During the hearings, addressing the issue of three major suppliers allocated by the Centre being too far away to reach Delhi in time, senior advocate Rahul Mehra for the Delhi government said that the Delhi health secretary was preparing the document and forwarding it to the Chief Secretary at the earliest.
As per the discussions moderated by the court, the Chief Secretary would at the earliest send suggestions on re-allocating suppliers to the Centre, which the Empowered Group handling oxygen supplies must examine at the earliest.
Coming to the logistics of transporting the oxygen supplies, the court pondered whether CNG cylinders can be repurposed to carry liquid medical oxygen, but was informed that this might not be feasible due to dangers. However, after the court's insistence, it was stressed by officials that this option too would be explored. By this time, one of the hospitals that had moved court submitted that the main requirement was to maintain uninterrupted supply of oxygen to the hospital, to which the court asked the Delhi government to look into.
And as the court was informed that Max hospital was on Friday again running out of oxygen, it directed the hospital to approach the concerned nodal officer.
Meanwhile, Mehra also highlighted to the court that there was a problem with hospitals refusing admission to patients despites having enough beds to which when the ASG said there was a system in place, the court went on to demand assurances, saying it had earlier failed to ensure 480 MT oxygen reached the Capital.
