Have few hours of oxygen left, say 2 Delhi hospitals

New Delhi, May 29

Two hospitals here, including VIMHANS, treating COVID-19 patients sent out alerts on Thursday over shortage of oxygen, saying their supplies will last for just a few hours.

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has put huge pressure on the country’s public health system, with hospitals in several states reeling under a shortage of oxygen, beds, medicines and equipment.

VIMHANS Hospital is waiting for oxygen to arrive. Its current supply will last for two hours, the institute’s medical director Dr Ubaid Hamid said.

“We have been facing an oxygen shortage for the last few days. The tanker was supposed to arrive around 3 pm but it didn’t. The district magistrate, SDM and DCP of the area arranged a government tanker and we received 800 litres of oxygen, which will last for two hours,” he said.

The hospital has 210 patients, out of which 170 patients are oxygen dependent with the daily requirement being five metric tonnes, Hamid said.

He said that the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has spoken to the company for the tanker and the hospital expects it to arrive by evening.

Jasbir Dabas, owner of Rosewood Hospital, said it has only half an hour of the life-saving gas left.

“We have around 40 patients admitted in our hospital and we have informed them about the shortage. Our cylinders are at Mayapuri waiting to be refilled. The government has prepared a list of hospitals who will be provided oxygen but what about the other hospitals. We need help,” he said.

Delhi recorded 368 more COVID-19 deaths and 25,986 new cases of the infection on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 31.76 per cent, according to the latest bulletin issued by the city health department. PTI