E-Paper
With no oxygen, 1.5K Thane beds lying unused
At least 1,500 oxygen beds in two of Thane’s civic-run hospitals have gone unused for the past 10 days because the city has not received its regular supply of oxygen, leading to the deterioration of the health of Covid-19 patients as well as a backlog in admission of severe patients.
At least 1,500 oxygen beds in two of Thane’s civic-run hospitals have gone unused for the past 10 days because the city has not received its regular supply of oxygen, leading to the deterioration of the health of Covid-19 patients as well as a backlog in admission of severe patients. Two of the three Dedicated Covid hospitals (DCH) run by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) – Parking Plaza and Voltas Company hospitals -- have not used the oxygen beds (in the former case, since April 10), as the amount of oxygen supplied to the civic body by the state has reduced drastically.
The city receives 34 tonnes of oxygen, from both private vendors and the state. However, this is insufficient to meet the demands of the oxygen beds run by the TMC.
Sakharam Gore (43) had to wait for more than 24 hours to get oxygen support at Parking Plaza, where he was admitted on April 17 after experiencing breathing difficulties.
Gore was admitted on a regular bed, and as his lung infection worsened, he required medical grade oxygen. The hospital however did not have oxygen beds ready for use and had a limited supply of cylinders.
“After trying for two days I got a bed at parking plaza on April 17. By evening I experienced difficulty in breathing. My oxygen had dropped to 85, but as there was a shortage, I got oxygen support only from April 19. The situation was very bad. They had only two cylinders for nine patients. They used the oxygen on rotational basis for few hours till a vendor arrived and provided cylinders,” Gore, a resident of Patlipada who works as supervisor at a private housekeeping company, said.
Gore has still not recovered completely and even to use the washroom makes use of a wheelchair so that the oxygen cylinder need not be removed for a longer period. “If I had received the oxygen support earlier, my condition would not have deteriorated so much,” he said.
The TMC runs three DCH (the third being Global Covid Hospital), and four Dedicated Covid Health centres (DCHC). While Global Covid has 929 oxygen beds, the four DCHC have 720 oxygen beds. Only 48 of the former, and 53 of the latter were available as of Tuesday evening.
Put together these beds require 46 tonnes of oxygen daily. However, currently only 23 tonnes are available daily.
“We have three Covid hospitals where regular oxygen supply is required, from among these, the oxygen facility at Parking Plaza has been shut on April 10 and patients were shifted to Global Covid hospital. Moreover the one at Vartak Nagar (Voltas Company hospital) is not operational yet. The city is currently receiving only 23 tonnes of oxygen. Since Global Covid hospital has the capacity for patients requiring oxygen, all such patients are currently in Global Covid hospital,” a senior official from TMC said. “We are in the midst of signing a contract with a private company on Wednesday and an hour after it is signed we shall have oxygen supply in 350 beds in Parking Plaza hospital. This will ensure regular supply of oxygen within the city. As the number of cases has increased, there is added pressure on the administration personnel, so we shall increase their numbers as well. We have increased 150 oxygen beds at Global Covid facility and work is in progress to increase 25 beds within the ICU,” Dr Vipin Sharma, Commissioner, TMC, said.
“Three new plants for oxygen are being built; two of these will have a capacity of 175 metric tonnes. We shall also increase the number of oxygen beds to accommodate the 300 cylinders, such that Parking plaza will have [a total increased capacity of] 800 oxygen beds. Moreover, another plant will be set up, the cost of which will be borne by MMRDA. Once the oxygen supply is restored and functions properly, we shall focus on increasing the beds as well,” added Sharma.
Two oxygen plants will be operational by April 30 in Parking Plaza and Global Covid hospital. “When the plant is operational, the city will get 50 tonnes of oxygen daily. We can use 47 tonnes for our patients while three tonnes can be provided to private hospitals. As the supply from vendors as well as the state had gone down it affected the oxygen availability in the city. We used the available oxygen for Global Covid, while private hospitals received oxygen supply from FDA. The 1500 oxygen beds remained vacant at Parking plaza and Voltas at Vartak Nagar as there was no supply of oxygen. General beds were available for the patients,” a senior official from TMC said.
Since April 1, 30,985 cases and 183 deaths have been reported in Thane. “TMC has made preparations for the second wave but the number of positive patients is increasing,” said mayor Naresh Mhaske.
