COVID19: Delhi Facing Oxygen Shortage Despite Centre Increasing Its Quota

New Delhi: Several private hospitals in Delhi are running out of oxygen for Covid-19 patients with many of them making makeshift arrangements to ensure that the patients could be saved, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference, Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister for Covid management in the national capital, warned that more than a dozen hospitals have oxygen stock that will last for just a few more hours.

“Makeshift arrangements will not work for long as every hospital is faced with the same situation. Over a dozen hospitals have informed me that they are running out of oxygen stock with many of them saying that their stocks will last for just 4-5 hours,” Sisodia said.

“Delhi is facing oxygen shortage despite the Centre increasing its oxygen quota on Wednesday. Moreover, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments are not allowing trucks to supply oxygen to Delhi.

“On Wednesday, the UP government did not allow oxygen loaded trucks to enter an oxygen plant there, which resulted in an emergency situation in many hospitals in Delhi. Today, the Haryana government is doing the same. Its officials have barred the entry of trucks carrying oxygen to Delhi in Panipat,” he added.

Sisodia also claimed that on Wednesday, hospitals in Delhi faced a crisis because out of the 378 MT oxygen sanctioned to Delhi by the Centre, only 177 MT was received.

“Now when the Centre has increased Delhi’s quota of oxygen from 378 MT to 480 MT per day, why are the Haryana and UP governments creating hurdles,” he asked.

As per the data provided by the Delhi government, here is a list of hospitals with their remaining oxygen stocks at 2 p.m. on Thursday:

* Burari Hospital (7 hrs)
* Deen Dayal Upadhyay (6 hrs)
* Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital (4 hrs)
* Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (11 hrs)
* Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (8 hrs)
* Ambedkar Nagar Hospital (24 hrs)

Private hospitals:

* BLK Hospital, Pusa Road (4 hrs)
* Holy Family Hospital, Okhla (2 hrs)
* Max Hospital, Patparganj (4 hrs)
* BalaJi Action (5 hrs)
* St. Stephen’s Hospital (18 hrs)
* Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (20 hrs)
* Max, Shalimar Bagh (18 hrs)

Oxygen Express Set To Haul First Supply Of LMO From Vizag Steel Plant

Visakhapatnam: The first batch of 100 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) from the Vizag Steel Plant is being loaded onto the Indian Railways’ Oxygen Express, for transportation to Covid-hit Maharashtra. The special train designed for transporting LMO arrived in the early hours of Thursday, at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited’s Vizag Steel Plant, officials said.

The oxygen will be transported after it is filled in seven cryogenic tankers, each with a capacity of 15-20 tonnes of liquid oxygen. The entire process, including filling the tanks, weighing them, and conducting safety checks, is expected to be completed in 22-24 hours. After that, the Oxygen Express will embark on its journey to Maharashtra.

The Air Seperation Plant at the Vizag Steel Plant, comprises of five oxygen extraction units with a combined production capacity of 2,600 tonnes of oxygen, and one hundred tonnes of liquid oxygen, sources said.

Last week, Vizag Steel Plant had supplied around 400 tonnes of LMO to several places in Andhra Pradesh. The medical-grade oxygen is used for Covid patients who suffer from low oxygen levels.

The Vizag Steel Plant is currently in the news following widespread protests in Andhra Pradesh, over the centre’s privatisation plans. The Vizag Steel Plant has an annual capacity of 7.3 tonnes of steel.