L-G orders districts to tie up with RWAs, set up care facilities with oxygen support

The government and the district administration will provide the required oxygen cylinders or concentrators provided the RWAs and the doctors are ready to run the facilities.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday directed district magistrates (DMs) to tie up with resident welfare associations (RWAs) to create small health facilities in colonies, equipped with a few beds and oxygen cylinders.

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal. (HT photo)

“The plan is to create small facilities at the RWA level where a willing doctor from the local community can supervise the provision of oxygen to needy patients in the colony with an aim of assisting them in the critical period when their SpO2 (oxygen saturation in blood) levels start falling. Such cases can then be addressed without going to hospitals that are already overburdened with more serious patients,” said a senior government official who attended the meeting the L-G and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had with all the DMs.

The government and the district administration will provide the required oxygen cylinders or concentrators provided the RWAs and the doctors are ready to run the facilities. A few facilities are expected to start on a pilot basis from Sunday.

The decision came after a joint front of East Delhi Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) wrote to Kejriwal. “Even if 10% of the exponentially increasing home-isolation cases require any medical help in an emergency, by way of oxygen, ICU beds, and ventilators, Govt has nothing to offer and it may lead to increased mortalities. In such a critical situation, can’t we have the Covid-19 oxygen centres in every locality, under every MLA, or under every councillor, to provide at least the life-saving breathing booster by way of providing oxygen to the patient in dire need…?” read the letter.

Meanwhile, all districts have also started reaching out to RWAs in their areas. The south administration wrote to all RWAs in its jurisdiction urging them to identify spaces that could be turned care centres.

“RWA representatives may please suggest places where Covid care centres can be set up for augmenting the capacity of oxygenated beds. The RWA may identify a place and invite doctors and nurses from the community,” read the message from the administration.