AIIMS Delhi reopens admissions to emergency ward after halting it for an hour

Admissions were earlier restricted due to the oxygen pipelines being reorganised in the emergency department, according to AIIMS Delhi officials.

The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Delhi on Saturday said admissions to its emergency department has resumed after it was restricted for an hour earlier in the day. Officials of the premier hospital confirmed “admissions are open and [the] emergency department is functional” after some users on Twitter said that new admissions were not being allowed.

"Currently, around 100 coronavirus infected patients are already receiving treatment at the Emergency," officials from AIIMS Delhi said. (File Photo)

Admissions were earlier restricted due to the oxygen pipelines being reorganised in the emergency department, according to the officials. “The admissions in the emergency were restricted for an hour as the oxygen pipelines were being reorganised due to increased requirement of oxygen for COVID-19 patients. Currently, around 100 coronavirus infected patients are already receiving treatment at the Emergency. This is in addition to more than 800 patients who are already admitted at various centres of AIIMS,” an official said.

“#Breaking : AIIMS emergency closed due to low supply of Oxygen in Delhi,” one user tweeted on Saturday afternoon. Few other users of the social media platform also tweeted on similar lines, claiming that new restrictions were not being accepted in the hospital.

Many hospitals in the country, including those in the national capital, have complained of a shortage of medical-grade oxygen due to the rising number of infections of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The second wave of the pandemic has caused a rapid increase in the number of active cases in the country which have burdened the hospitals, causing the demand for oxygen to swell.

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Earlier in the day, Saroj Hospital in Delhi also announced it was not admitting new patients due to a shortage in oxygen, news agency ANI reported. “We are closing the admissions because of an oxygen shortage. We are discharging the patient,” ANI quoted the hospital’s Covid-19 in-charge as saying. A few hours later, the in-charge said, “We have not received backup oxygen supply yet. We have 70 patients who are in critical condition and need oxygen. If we do not get oxygen supply there could be a big disaster. We have started discharging patients.”

Amid the ongoing crisis, the Centre on Saturday waived off the customs duty and health cess on the import of Covid-19 vaccines and medical grade oxygen for a period of three months effective immediately. The Centre’s decision followed a meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the pandemic situation in the country.