Delhi Covid patients putting strain on Haryana hospitals: Khattar

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that health institutions of the state are under stress primarily because Delhi-based Covid-19 patients have taken admission in hospitals from Gurugram to Ambala

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that health institutions of the state are under stress primarily because Delhi-based Covid-19 patients have taken admission in hospitals from Gurugram to Ambala.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday that meeting the demand of medical oxygen is the biggest challenge before the state government. (HT Photo)

“We will not deny health facilities to Delhi-based patients in our health institutions. Patients from Delhi are coming to Gurugram and in some cases up to Ambala in large numbers,” Khattar said at a press conference in Chandigarh, admitting that the administration had not anticipated the size and scale of the second Covid-19 wave.

Over the past three days, Haryana has logged over 11,000 new cases daily with 11,931 fresh Covid-19 cases and 84 fatalities on Tuesday. Active cases climbed to 84,129 on Tuesday.

Khattar said once the caseload of Delhi stabilises, it will reduce pressure on Haryana also as the flow of patients to the state will slow down.

Says what hit us is nothing short of tsunami

Stating that meeting the demand of medical oxygen was the biggest challenge before the state government, he said no one had imagined that there would be such a massive demand for oxygen cylinders.

Khattar said Covid is not just on the rise, but its graph is surging beyond estimates.

“One can expect a deluge in the rainy season and prepare accordingly, but what has hit us is nothing short of a tsunami,” he said.

Tankers being flown to Orissa

The transportation of medical oxygen was another area of concern and he pointed out that the state was facing a shortage of tankers to transport the oxygen.

After the Centre on Wednesday increased the oxygen quota of Haryana from 162 to 232 MT, the state government despatched five tankers to Orissa to fetch the oxygen by road.

The chief minister said two tankers were being sent to Orissa by air and they will come back by road with the oxygen.

Under the revised plan, Haryana was allocated 70 MT of medical oxygen from Orissa. “After we start receiving and supplying 232 MT of oxygen, we will be able to assess the requirement,” he said, urging people to come forward and fight the pandemic unitedly.