E-Paper
Patna hospitals still battle oxygen crisis
PATNA Patna continued to add the maximum number of new Covid-19 cases, reporting 2,410 cases and 19 deaths in the last 24 hours on Friday, as Bihar logged 13,466 new cases and 62 deaths during this period, taking the cumulative Covid cases to 5,67,269 and deaths to 3,139
PATNA
Patna continued to add the maximum number of new Covid-19 cases, reporting 2,410 cases and 19 deaths in the last 24 hours on Friday, as Bihar logged 13,466 new cases and 62 deaths during this period, taking the cumulative Covid cases to 5,67,269 and deaths to 3,139.
On Friday, there were 1,15,066 active cases across the state, with Patna contributing 22,330. The state also showed a marginal improvement in recovery of patients, up from 78.65% on Thursday to 79.16% on Friday.
Meanwhile, hospitals in Patna continue to face oxygen crisis, necessary in management of Covid-19 patients, forcing some to reduce oxygen pressure to patients, while also refusing admission to new patients.
The Ruban Hospital, accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), is one of the prominent facilities in Patna which is grappling with oxygen scarcity and has had to curtail admission of new Covid-19 patients.
“Our oxygen requirement is 600 cylinders (1 cylinder is 340 litres) per day, but we are able to get a maximum of 400-450 cylinders only in a day. When there is a delay in refilling of oxygen cylinders, we even have to temporarily reduce oxygen pressure by 15-30 minutes to patients so that they do not run out of life saving gas,” said a spokesperson of Ruban hospital.
“We maintain pressure enough not to harm a patient, but at the same time also not run out of gas,” the spokesperson said when asked if reducing oxygen pressure did not put patient life at risk.
He said the hospital had up to 230 beds for Covid-19 patients, but was unable to admit as many patients.
“We have had to restrict admission to 170-190 patients only because of oxygen scarcity. Nearly 40% of our 170 Covid-19 patients are under critical care, requiring high oxygen up to 15-30 litres per minute. We cannot admit more patients unless the government assures us full oxygen,” he said.
Almost similar is the condition at most other hospitals too.
The Sahyog Hospital in New Patliputra Colony, which has 30 beds for Covid-19 patients, has a daily demand of 30-40 D-type jumbo oxygen cylinders (each having up to 7,000 litres oxygen), but gets up to 25 cylinders per day.
“We have a shortage of up to 15-18 cylinders every day. As such, we admit only mild to moderate patients, while refusing the severe to critical cases, requiring more oxygen support,” said the spokesperson of Sahyog hospital.
The Mediversal Hospital at Doctors Colony in Kankerbagh has 40 beds for Covid-19, but it had to stop admission of patients due to shortage of oxygen a few days back, said Partha Dey, its general manager, facility.
“We require 200 cylinders but get only up to 160-170 cylinders, leading to oxygen shortage. However, we try that our patients do not suffer,” he said.
The oxygen requirement of AIIMS-Patna had gone up more than four times from 2,000 kilo litres a day to 9,000 kilo litres since February, said its superintendent Dr CM Singh. It was, however, able to meet the requirement as it had a 30,000 kilo litre oxygen tank and got its supply of oxygen from Kolkata.
Similarly, the oxygen demand of Paras-HMRI, too, had also doubled from 900 litres to 1.8-2 kilo litres in about a month, said its superintendent Dr Syed Asif Rahman. He, however, said oxygen supply was sufficient as it had a 20 kilo litre oxygen tank.
The Centre has allocated Bihar a daily quota of 214 metric tonnes of medical oxygen, but it was able to lift only 167 metric tonnes because of logistic issues.
