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PGIMER and Chandigarh admn fight over oxygen
Admn directs private vendor not to fill cylinders from PGIMER; latter says such orders will lead to further panic in this catastrophic situation
Amid rising medical oxygen demand and limited supply, a fresh war of words erupted between the Chandigarh administration and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research on Saturday, leading to intervention by Punjab governor and UT administrator VP Singh Badnore late at night.
The PGIMER on Saturday said it has received a communication from a private vendor in Dera Bassi that it has been directed by the Chandigarh administration not to supply medical oxygen gas cylinders to the premier institute till further instructions.
“As per the information received, this was directed by a team from Chandigarh administration, headed by Mr Yashpal Garg; Mr Jasjit Singh, director of industries; Mr Manjit Singh, nodal officer, Chandigarh; and other senior officials, during their visit to Anesthetic Gases Pvt Ltd, Dera Bassi, on Saturday (sic),” the PGIMER said in a release.
The institute added that considering the Covid-19 patient load and the incessantly increasing demand of medical oxygen, this kind of directive can lead to further panic in the already “catastrophic” situation. “Therefore, PGIMER leadership immediately flagged the issue to the higher authorities and expects an immediate resolution to avoid turning the already pressing situation into a crisis,” stated the release.
Responding to this, UT adviser Manoj Parida said the administration is already giving 20 MT oxygen to the PGIMER out of “our quota of 40 MT”.
“No more oxygen or cylinders can be given without disrupting the functioning of our government and private hospitals assigned to us. The PGIMER has requested the Government of India to enhance their quota from 20MT to 40MT. The UT administration has forwarded and strongly supported this,” he said.
The PGIMER administration shot back that it has been designated as a Covid hospital of the UT and is allocated a quota of 20 MT oxygen to meet its requirements.
“As on date, we at the PGIMER have already reached the consumption of 20 MT per day in view of the consistent surge in the patient load. Therefore, it may not be possible to increase the COVID bed strength in case the oxygen allocation is not enhanced with immediate effect,” it said.
‘Can’t increase beds’
Meanwhile, explaining the situation, Yashpal Garg, nodal officer for oxygen supplies in Chandigarh, said the administration has been assigned a total quota of 40 MT oxygen, which includes 20 MT exclusively for the PGIMER.
Of the remaining 20 MT quota, 17 MT oxygen is given directly to GMCH-32, GMSH-16 and the dedicated hospital in Sector 48 while 3 MT is given to a private vendor in Dera Bassi to refill oxygen cylinders of all government and private hospitals.
“On Saturday, when a team of senior officials visited the plant, despite clear instructions to the vendor that the quota provided is to be used for specific hospitals, it was observed that some cylinders of the PGIMER were also being filled... This was in gross violation of directions of the UT administration,” said Garg, adding that consequently directions were issued to fill PGIMER cylinders only from its quota of 20MT to avoid any disruption of supply to other hospitals.
Badnore intervenes
Meanwhile, the Punjab government also stopped the supply of oxygen to the PGIMER from a plant in Mandi Gobindgarh.
Dr Ashok Kumar, official spokesperson, PGIMER, said the institute used to get around 60 cylinders from the private vendor, but the supply was stopped by the Punjab government “with reasons best known to them”.
None from the Punjab government was willing to comment on the issue.
Amid the two developments, Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore shared a message on Twitter late at night, stating that hospitals including the PGIMER are being closely monitored.
“#PGIMER is lifesaver & premier health institute of Northern India; won’t let down its request; will see there is no O2 shortage (sic),” he said in the message, while also thanking the Haryana government for apparently arranging 3 MT oxygen for the PGIMER.
Not the first tussle
The UT administration and PGIMER have been at loggerheads since the beginning of the outbreak. While the administration has demanded that the premier institute should increase its capacity to deal with the situation, the latter wants more beds to be created at other hospitals .
The two had a tussle over conducting a sero-survey in the city and conversion of the Infosys Sarai into a Covid hospital as well.
The administration had last year formally written to the PGIMER to take steps to convert the Infosys Sarai on its campus into a Covid facility. However, the institute had said that the focus is to cater to patients already admitted at its dedicated Covid wards, which have almost 400 beds. The facility was finally handed over to an NGO to run a Covid Care Centre.
