E-Paper
Delay in truck carrying oxygen supply left two Pune Covid hospitals hit panic button
PUNE: The acute demand-supply gap of oxygen facility left the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration in an unprecedented crisis situation when the truck carrying medical oxygen got delayed on Monday
PUNE: The acute demand-supply gap of oxygen facility left the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration in an unprecedented crisis situation when the truck carrying medical oxygen got delayed on Monday. The possible shortage of oxygen could have affected the patients of 800-bed Covid jumbo facility at the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) and Dalvi hospital.
The daily oxygen demand of COEP Covid jumbo facility is 16 tonnes.
According to PMC, on Monday, the truck with medical oxygen supply was running as per schedule till 11 am and the COEF jumbo facility was prepared to use the reserved facility if the vehicle was delayed by some time. However, the truck’s delay prolonged and later it travelled under escort from Chakan. The hospitals’ reserved oxygen supply had touched an alarming level with stock for only a few minutes.
The jumbo hospital faced a similar situation last week, said one of the officials of the facility on condition of anonymity.
Dalvi hospital administration also faced oxygen shortage situation on Monday due to delay in arrival of the truck carrying fresh supply.
Rajendra Muthe, an official at Jumbo facility said, “There was a delay in arrival of the truck carrying oxygen cylinders and we had faced a similar situation four days ago. We always keep reserved stock for emergency, but the truck’s delay was unexpected. Now, we will increase the demand of oxygen supply to address these possible situations.”
PMC official Srinivas Kandul, who is coordinating the oxygen supply for municipal hospitals, said, “The sudden spike in demand of oxygen supply has made coordination a challenging job, but we are doing better.”
“As patients are not getting beds, various elected members and some groups are erecting oxygen bed facility at various localities. Though the move is for a good cause, it is putting additional pressure on the civic administration to provide oxygen facility to these new medical centres and the demand further shoots up.”
