More hosps flag hours of oxygen as tankers held back in Haryana
New Delhi/Gurugram: The medical oxygen supply required for hospitals such as GTB Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and many other large govt and private hospitals were restored in the dead of the night just in the nick of time — but only for some hospitals to again run out of stock and send out SOS messages.
By Wednesday afternoon, six hospitals of the Max group in Delhi and Gurugram were running low on oxygen and rationing supply, in addition to Manipal Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, St Stephen's Hospital, Irene Hospital and Holy Family Hospitals sending out their own respective SOS messages.
While some Max hospitals such as the Shalimar Bagh one had just two hours of oxygen left, the others had anywhere between 8-12 hours of it left in their stocks.
Significantly, the oxygen supplier for Max hospitals, Sir Ganga Ram, Manipal, St Stephen's, Holy Family and Irene hospitals was based in Faridabad, Haryana and the facility from where the tankers were supposed to reach Delhi hospitals were blocked by local authorities preventing them from taking the tankers outside the state, according to the hospital authorities.
A similar crisis had occurred on Tuesday night when GTB's oxygen supply was being held back by authorities in UP's Modinagar and only after Dy CM Manish Sisodia had spoke to a senior Union Minister was the tanker allowed to reach GTB.
But Wednesday's shortage amid problems in Haryana came just after Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij publicly claimed that the Delhi government had purportedly "looted our oxygen" and that he had ordered "police protection" for suppliers. But even as St Stephen's claimed the Haryana-based supplier Linde India had said they would restore supply soon and Sir Ganga Ram said supply had been restored, sources in the Delhi government said that officials were still holding up the tankers in Haryana as of 8 pm.
And with Max hospitals having the most number of patients under their care among all other Linde's purchasers, the parent company Balaji Medical and Research Centre moved the Delhi High Court seeking immediate oxygen for its patients, following which the Centre was directed to bring the required supply to Delhi come what may immediately. In fact, it slammed the Centre and said, "We don't care, beg, borrow, steal or requisition new plants if you want." But meanwhile, Gurugram has also started reporting massive shortages of oxygen, with Gurugram's supply from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh cut off in light of their own surges.
According to official sources, what has added to shortages is hoarding activities and excessive use of oxygen by certain patients under treatment. And already reeling under a complete lack of hospital beds, Gurugram has now decided to start a portal for Gurugram residents where they can inquire about bed availability. Officials said patients will be asked to wait and the helpline will get back to them after assessing their "criticality". Other than the above mentioned Delhi hospitals, Apollo Hospital here also said on Wednesday that it was running out of oxygen and that the situation was very grim, according to Managing Director P Sivakumar. Gurugram reported 2,988 new cases.
