'A patient is a patient': Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Covid hospitalisations from Delhi, Noida

Haryana on Tuesday saw the highest single day spike in daily Covid disease cases at 15,786, while 153 more people lost their lives, according to the state health department’s bulletin.

Apart from treating its own residents who have been infected with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Haryana is also admitting patients from neighbouring Delhi and Noida, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday, adding no hospitals have refused to admit patients from outside the state.

The Haryana government is working towards creating 1,000 more hospital beds across the state, Khattar said. (Keshav Singh/HT file photo)

Addressing a press conference on the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the state, Khattar said, “Almost 8,556 patients are on oxygen support while 3,828 patients are on ventilators and ICUs. We are treating all patients from Haryana. But in Gurugram, nearly 40% of the Covid patients are from Delhi. In Faridabad, 20% patients are from Delhi and Noida. Other cities in Haryana are also taking in patients from these regions. We will keep on treating patients from Haryana as well as from outside because a patient is a patient. Our hospitals have not refused treatment to anyone from outside the state.”

The Haryana government is working towards creating 1,000 more hospital beds across the state, Khattar said. With the help of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), a 500-bed hospital is being made in Panipat as well as Hisar, he added.

As hospitals in the state are reporting a severe shortage of oxygen supplies in view of the recent spike in cases and deaths along with patients coming in from outside, Khattar informed reporters a control room has been set up in Chandigarh to monitor the supply.

“We’ve been allotted 70 MT per day of oxygen from Odisha. We have acquired 20 tankers for the transportation of oxygen. We need more tankers,” Khattar said and added the state is also procuring oxygen from the free market.

According to news agency PTI, Mansesar and Faridabad are everyday witnessing long queues of people refilling their oxygen cylinders from plants. On the other hand, Haryana health minister Anil Vij claimed on Tuesday that Haryana is only receiving 252 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen against its daily requirement of 300 MT.

Haryana on Tuesday saw the highest single day spike in daily Covid disease cases at 15,786, while 153 more people lost their lives, according to the state health department’s bulletin. The caseload is nearing 544,000 including 4,779 deaths, 429,950 recoveries and 108,830 active cases. The state is currently placed under a week-long lockdown from May 3 till May 9 to stem the spread of the disease.