Chandigarh’s non-Covid private hospitals rue inadequate oxygen quota

UT administration on Tuesday fixed quota of 30 cylinders for private hospitals with ICU facilities for non-Covid patients

Around 25 non-Covid private health centres in the city have flagged the issue of inadequate supply of oxygen at a time when more patients are rushing to them for health services.

The local chapter of the Indian Medical Association has also written to the Chandigarh administration, asking the officials to reconsider their decision on rationing of oxygen. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The UT administration on Tuesday fixed the quota of 30 cylinders for the private hospitals with ICU facilities for primarily non-Covid patients, but the hospital administrators have said that it was “grossly inadequate”.

The local chapter of the Indian Medical Association had also presented the requirement to the authorities according to the bed occupancy. After the quota was fixed, the local chapter of IMA again wrote to the UT health authorities, asking them to reconsider the decision.

Requirement of 100 cylinders in hospitals

“There is a requirement of around 100 cylinders in the hospitals catering to non-Covid services. We appeal to the administration to supply us more oxygen,” said Dr V Kappall, the president of IMA Chandigarh.

“They (administration) have promised to augment supply as soon as they are in a position to do so. Let’s hope they at least allot 60 cylinders to non-Covid hospitals, who are taking emergencies, refused by the PGIMER, GMCH, GMSH and other Covid centres,”said Dr RS Bedi, owner of a hospital in Sector 33.

Dr Neeraj Kumar, who also runs a private hospital, said that several emergency procedures were also conducted at private facilities and since suppliers were overburdened with Covid management, emphasis should be on equal distribution.

“We run paediatric ICUs and currently we are running on 3-4 hour supply. It takes around 7-8 hours to refill the cylinders. If the current situation persists, we may have to tell the patients to find some other facility, but we do not want to create panic,” said Dr Kumar.