120 city hospitals have O2 facilities within premises: Delhi govt to HC

On May 20, the high court nudged the city government and the hospital authorities for their failure to set up oxygen generation plants even as a devastating second wave of Covid-19 was sweeping through the Capital.

The Delhi government on Monday informed the Delhi high court that of the 135 private hospitals in the city with more than 50 beds, 120 have installed oxygen generation devices such as pressure swing adsorption plants and liquid medical oxygen tanks within their premises, and data on 15 others is awaited.

Delhi High Court (File photo)

On May 20, the high court nudged the city government and the hospital authorities for their failure to set up oxygen generation plants even as a devastating second wave of Covid-19 was sweeping through the Capital, overwhelming the medical infrastructure and leading to an acute shortage of medical oxygen across hospitals. The court said as the demand for medical oxygen in Delhi has gone up by nearly five times the normal consumption, it was time to make provisions so as to reduce dependence on outside sources, if a similar situation were to arise in the future.

The Delhi government on May 28 directed the owners and management of hospitals to take steps to avert an oxygen crisis.

The government directed hospitals with 100 beds or more to install PSA/refilling plants and create other necessary infrastructure with sufficient capacity to produce at twice their normal requirement of oxygen.

Hospitals with 50 to 99 beds were told to set up PSA/refilling plants to meet at least their normal requirement of oxygen and those with 50 beds were asked to augment their infrastructure and add capacities.

The government told the hospitals and nursing homes to provide a timeline for setting up these facilities by June 5.

On Wednesday, in a status report filed through additional standing counsel Satyakam, the Delhi government informed a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh that 15 hospitals did not respond despite the deadline being extended till June 11.

During the hearing, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that they have created storage capacity for buffer oxygen and 171 tanks have been installed. He added that another 150 are being set up.

The court was hearing a bunch of pleas including one from lawyer Rakesh Malhotra seeking better facilities to manage the Covid crisis in the city.

During the proceedings, the bench also directed the Centre to file a status report on availability of Liposomal Amphotericin B and other drugs, used for treating patients of black fungus which primarily affects those who have recovered from the coronavirus disease.

“If we are preparing for the third wave of Covid-19, we need to see the arrangement for it,” it said, asking the Centre to indicate the status of quantities of Liposomal Amphotericin-B actually imported and the outstanding supplies along with its domestic production. The court also asked the Centre to file a status report on export, production and stocks of remdesivir, which is used for treatment of Covid symptoms.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on Thursday.