Covid-19 patients at home struggle to get oxygen as vendors flag increased demand

New Delhi: For the past few days, Puneeta Marwah, a resident of Greater Kailash 1, was trying to arrange an oxygen concentrator machine or a cylinder for a family member who tested positive for Covid-19

New Delhi: For the past few days, Puneeta Marwah, a resident of Greater Kailash 1, was trying to arrange an oxygen concentrator machine or a cylinder for a family member who tested positive for Covid-19.

HT Image

The family tried to get him admitted to a hospital, but most hospitals in south Delhi said they were out of beds. With his oxygen saturation steadily dropping, the family’s doctor advised them to put the patient on oxygen support. But this proved to be yet another harrowing experience for the family.

“It has been a struggle to arrange for oxygen cylinders or concentrators. A few hospitals told us a few beds may free up in a day or two. But till then, we have to manage the patient at home,” Marwah said.

The GK-1 resident welfare association (RWA) then stepped in, providing her with an oxygen concentrator. The association has maintained two oxygen concentrators and three cylinders since last year for Covid-19 patients.

But with cases spiralling to unforeseen levels, and hospitals running out of beds and oxygen, RWAs like the one in GK-1 have found it near impossible to meet the ever-soaring demand for oxygen.

As many as 25,462 Covid-19 cases were recorded on Sunday breaching the previous high of 24,375 cases recorded the previous day. On Sunday, 161 people reportedly died of the infection. Out of the 17, 514 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients, 13,887 beds were occupied.

Health experts recommend that Covid-19 patients get hospitalised if their oxygen saturation is below 94mm. However, with facilities packed, experts say patients should be given oxygen therapy at home if possible.

Dr Vikas Maurya, director and head of pulmonology, Fortis Healthcare, Shalimar Bagh, said, “Given the surge in Covid-19 cases and demand for hospital beds, it is advisable for patients to take oxygen therapy or support at home till they get admission in hospital. Oxygen saturation below 94 means that there is lung involvement and patients should start looking to get hospitalised. A level below 90 is a cause of concern.”

Referring to the situation in the city, Dr Maurya said, “The sudden increase in Covid-19 cases has burdened the health care infrastructure. We are asking patients to start the treatment at home and use oxygen till they get a hospital bed.”

RWAs said the shortage of oxygen cylinders and concentrators at the domestic and level had, in turn, forced people to rush to hospitals.Sanjay Anand, president of the GK-1 E-block RWA, said, “In the past few days, the demand for oxygen equipment has increased several times. We have kept these machines as a stopgap arrangement. We will get the cylinders refilled as soon as possible so that we can provide basic support to our residents.”

Similarly, Aarohan Mediratta, whose relative tested positive for Covid-19, had to borrow the machine from the GK-I RWA. “I called up all possible vendors but in vain. There are no machines available. We needed it urgently, because the patient’s oxygen level dropped to 80,” said Mediratta.

An oxygen concentrator pulls in air from the surroundings, compresses it and removes nitrogen and other impurities from the air through its filters. The machine costs somewhere between ₹50,000- ₹70,000. Several people across the city either rented the machine or bought one entirely last year.

But distributors say they have now run out of these machines. NS Sethi, a city-based distributor, said, “I don’t have any machine right now, but I get at least 50 calls a day asking for one. We import these machines from China, the United States and other countries.”

Similarly, the demand for oxygen cylinders has increased exponentially. “We are getting requests from hospitals, nursing homes and individuals. But we have no stock [of new cylinders]. We are trying to arrange cylinders. At the moment, we are simply refilling oxygen cylinders,” said Ashish Sharma, owner of Home Health Rental, an oxygen cylinder supplier in west Delhi.

Rishipal Singh, an oxygen cylinder supplier in east Delhi, said, “Just 10 days ago, we were supplying 60-70 oxygen cylinders a day. But in the past four to five days, demand has shot up to 150-200 a day, and we have run out of stock.”

The weekend lockdown made the situation even worse, vendors said, with the restrictions on movement hampering transport. “We can’t supply it at home due to the demand and shortage of manpower. We have asked some people to come to our centre and get their cylinder refilled,” said a vendor, who asked not to be named.

The RWAs requested the state government to step in and collaborate to ease supplies.

Rajiv Kakria, convenor of Save Our City campaign, said, “The government should rope in RWAs and provide oxygen cylinders to address the growing demand for it. This will help ease the load on health care infrastructure.”

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday directed district magistrates to tie up with RWAs to create small facilities at the colony level equipped with few beds and oxygen cylinders.

Pankaj Aggarwal, president of Safdarjung Enclave RWA, said they were in talks with the district administration to set up a unit in the colony. “This will at least ease people’s anxiety. We have oxygen concentrators and cylinders with us, which are being used by our residents.”

Some doctors, however, cautioned that oxygen needs to be administered under proper medical supervision.

Dr Sandeep Sharma, former president of the Indian Medical Association (South Delhi) who is assisting the Safdarjung Enclave RWA to set up the centre, said, “Each patient has a different oxygen requirement. It has to be assessed by a doctor before the patient is administered oxygen.”

He added, “We see that more and more people are just trying to procure cylinders or concentrators in anticipation. This is just adding to the panic and demand for these items. People should pool in and get these facilities at the block or RWA level.”

It is not just RWAs and individuals who are facing problems, hospitals too are facing problems due to short supply of oxygen. In the present scenario, hospitals said that even if they have vacant beds, arranging oxygen is a problem due to shortage of supply.

Dr Shekhar Aggarwal, vice-president and executive director of Sant Parmanand hospital, said, “Shortage of oxygen supply is posing a big challenge, as the demand for it has increased manifold. A large number of Covid-19 patients coming to the hospital need oxygen support. Our average oxygen usage till a few days ago was 200-250 cubic meter which has now increased to 1,200-1,500 cubic meter per day.”