No shortage of oxygen in Haryana: Khattar
On patients preferring to go to private hospitals, Khattar said the working of private hospitals was being monitored and that they should refrain from admitting more patients than their capacity
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday said there was no shortage of oxygen supply in Haryana.
The CM, who was speaking at the sidelines of a meeting with Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, authorities, said the state had sent a proposal to the Union government demanding 240 tonnes of oxygen.
“Industrialist Naveen Jindal will also provide us five tonnes of liquid oxygen per day from his manufacturing plant,” Khattar said, while adding that 650 more beds will be provided for Covid patients at PGIMS, Rohtak.
“Currently, PGIMS has a facility of 350 beds, which will be increased to 1,000 beds. We will provide 1,250 more beds at different medical colleges in the state. We have identified two spots with a capacity for 500 beds each,” he said.
On patients preferring to go to private hospitals, Khattar said the working of private hospitals was being monitored and that they should refrain from admitting more patients than their capacity.
The CM said the government had set a quota on the availability of Remdesivir and private hospitals were being closely monitored to check black marketeering of the medicine.
The CM also stopped at the oxygen plant at Panipat Refinery to take stock of the situation. “A site has been finalised for setting up a 500-bed Covid hospital on the premises of the Indian Oil Corporation’s Panipat refinery, adjoining the oxygen plant. The hospital will have 500m direct connectivity for round-the-clock oxygen supply directly from the plant,” Khattar said.
Haryana seeks 40 MT O2 supply from Jharkhand
In yet another move, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government demanded 20,000 Remdesivir injections from the Centre. While 1,000 out of 20,000 injections have been made available to the state, around 3,000 injections will be available by Tuesday.
The government plans to use 10,000 Remdesivir injections in government and the rest in private hospitals. It has also requested the Centre to increase the 162 tonnes allocated quota to 270 tonnes per day, saying that the allocated quota was insufficient for the 70,000 active cases in the state and almost 10,000 new cases coming up every day.
“The government has learnt that additional oxygen is available in two Jamshedpur-based plants and is keen to bring this surplus oxygen to Haryana through tankers by rail,” a spokesperson said.
PGIMS resumes ICU services for Covid patients
After stopping services on Sunday night due to shortage of oxygen supply, PGIMS has once again started admitting Covid patients to the trauma centre.
PGIMS medical superintendent Dr Pushpa Dahiya said they had 120 ICU beds but they could not admit new patients as the oxygen supply was delayed. “As we received oxygen on Monday, we have once again started admitting critical Covid patients,” she said.
Telephonic enquiries to government and private hospital staff members revealed that there is no shortage of oxygen supply in Rohtak, Jhajjar and Hisar but hospitals in Rewari are short on supply.
Dr Sanjay Dahiya, chief medical officer, Jhajjar, said they had 160 ICU beds in the district, including private hospitals, of which 147 were occupied.
“There are 26 ventilators in the district, of which 23 are occupied. We have 447 oxygen beds (excluding ICU), of which 378 are occupied. There can be shortage of beds in the future but now the situation is under control. We are getting sufficient supply of oxygen,” he added.
Similarly, Hisar and Jind deputy commissioners Aditya Dahiya and Priyanka Soni said there was no shortage of oxygen supply in both districts. A doctor at a famous private hospital in Rewari, pleading anonymity, said their oxygen supply had declined and their pleas were not being heard by health authorities.