Govt to keep 20 MT oxygen as ‘buffer stock’ for emergency use

Of the daily quota of 490 MT medical oxygen allocated to Delhi by the Centre, suppliers said they could provide only 445 MT.

With the high demand and erratic supply of oxygen in the city, the Delhi government has decided to maintain a buffer stock of nearly 20 metric tonnes (MT) to help hospitals in distress, according to an order implementing a new oxygen quota for Delhi hospitals that came into force on Thursday midnight.

A man carrying an oxygen cylinder walks past a digital display board notifying complete occupancy of beds at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital, in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, April 29, 2021. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

“A reserve of 20MT on rotational basis will be maintained by the Govt of NCT of Delhi through the control centre to address emergent or critical situation at any hospital,” the order by a deputy secretary (health) read. This was one of the suggestions made by representatives of private hospitals in a meeting with deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and representatives of oxygen suppliers on Monday.

The order, which supersedes an April 26 order, says the total allocation of oxygen to hospitals treating patients with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has been reduced marginally to provide oxygen for reserve, for non-Covid-19 services in hospitals, and because the oxygen suppliers are “realistically” providing less oxygen than the city’s quota.

Of the daily quota of 490 MT medical oxygen allocated to Delhi by the Centre, suppliers said they could provide only 445 MT. Of this, 387 MT has been allocated to hospitals for Covid-19 services, 40 MT for non-Covid services, and 18 MT as reserve. As per the previous order, Covid-19 hospitals in Delhi needed 454 MT of medical oxygen. The entire supply was to be divided among them.

“The quota for oxygen has been reduced; the allocation is based on the patient census in the hospital on April 24 — I had 240 Covid-19 patients in the hospital then, today I have 302. Where will I get the oxygen to manage the additional 60 patients,” said Dr SCL Gupta, medical director, Batra hospital.

Dr Narin Sehgal, medical director of Sehgal Neo hospital, said, “My oxygen allocation was reduced from 1.5 MT to 1.1 MT in the revised order; I don’t know why. To be fair, however, I haven’t been calculating how much we have got against the quota but whatever we are getting isn’t enough. I am not blaming anyone. The situation is unprecedented.”

The calculation for oxygen requirement is based on non-ICU patients needing 10 litres of oxygen per minute and those in the ICU needing 24 litres per minute.

The Delhi government said it doesn’t even receive the entire 445 MT of oxygen on a daily basis. “We received 402 metric tonne of oxygen yesterday, and the day before that 408 metric tonne. We have been allocated the share of 480 metric ton on April 21st and 490 metric ton on April 25th, but it is hardly reaching us in that quantity. Presently, the allocation is done keeping in mind the number of ICU beds and non-ICU oxygen beds,” the government said in a statement.

Meanwhile the Delhi government told the high court on Thursday that two more pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants will be operational in the city from Friday, adding that it needed nearly 1,000 MT of oxygen to augment intensive care unit beds needed to handle the rush of critical Covid patients.

Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehtra made the submission before a high court bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli while giving a status report on the Centre’s plan to set up PSA oxygen units at different Delhi hospitals.