Delhi govt to give home testing devices, oxygen support access

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the government will equip every district with oxygen concentrators so that Covid-19 patients are immediately administered oxygen in their homes if the need arises.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the government will equip every district with oxygen concentrators so that Covid-19 patients are immediately administered oxygen in their homes if the need arises.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (ANI photo)

The chief minister also said that every Covid-19 patient under home isolation will be given a pulse-oximeter device so they can frequently check their oxygen levels and alert the district officials, in case of an emergency.

Addressing a digital press conference, Kejriwal said in Covid cases, the biggest concern is that the oxygen levels of the patient drop suddenly and often drastically. “To ensure there is no delay in administering oxygen to such patients, every district administration will now keep a certain number of oxygen concentrators at their disposal so that oxygen is provided to the Covid-19 patient in their homes on an immediate basis. Our teams will reach your home immediately to provide oxygen. If needed, the patient will be shifted to a hospital,” he said adding that phone numbers will be made public in every district for people to avail this service.

Kejriwal said the decision was taken after the government observed that on some occasions the lag created in providing treatment to a Covid-19 patient by transporting him/her from their homes to the hospital can result in the worsening of the patient’s condition.

The moves comes at a time where there has been confusion over protocols that are to be followed for cases in home isolation, which began after Delhi’s lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, the administrative head of the city, issued an order on Friday that virtually did away with the practice -- before walking back on it on Saturday after it triggered concerns and anger among people.

On Sunday, the Union home ministry asked the Delhi government to provide the details of each and every Covid death in the city to assess whether the deaths were because the patients were not taken to a hospital on time or there had been a delay in treating them.

According to Delhi’s health bulletin on Monday,there were 12,922 people in home isolation from among the 23,820 active cases.

Kejriwal on Monday also said that the government will give pulse-oximeters to every Covid patient under home isolation so they can check their oxygen levels from time to time. “Once the patient’s condition improves, you can return it to us in 10 days or so,” he said.

Dr Neeraj Gupta, professor in the department of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi said the initiative has been much-needed, especially since the Capital has been recording over 3,000 new cases every day.

“This is a time when the number of cases is increasing so rapidly because of which hospital beds need to be optimised. The idea of the Delhi government is to maintain the oxygen level of the patent above 90%, until they recover on their own. Keeping oxygen concentrators handy in every district will help the family of the patient to buy time to search for beds and get admission in an hospital, if the patient is serious or moderately serious,” said Gupta.

He said the Delhi government’s decision on pulse-oximeters is in tandem with the central government’s recent scheme through which people can buy these devices at a cost of Rs 1,200.

The chief minister, for the first time, directly attacked China for “sending the virus” and “causing troubles at the border”.

“Today, the entire world is waging two wars against China. One is against the virus they sent and another is at the border. Against the virus we have our doctors, nurses battling it out. At the borders, there are the armed forces. Our 20 soldiers did not step back, we will also not step back in both these wars,” Kejriwal said.

Appreciating the support extended by the Central government in Delhi’s fight against Covid-19, Kejriwal reiterated that this is not the time to do politics or fight among each other. “If we do not units, Corona will win,” he said.

The chief minister also said that testing in Delhi has now been increased by over three times and that people should now face no problem in getting themselves tested for Covid. “Earlier around 5,000 tests were being done per day, now 18,000 tests are being conducted per day. All labs have been asked to ramp up and use their resources to full capacity. Antigen tests have also started in Delhi and mild or asymptomatic patients are being treated at home only. Our team calls them to keep a tab on them,” he said.

Kejriwal said on June 12, 5,300 beds were occupied and as on Monday, 6,200 beds were filled. “In 10 days, we have seen 23,000 fresh cases, but only 900 beds in hospital have been filled. As many as 7,000 beds were vacant as on Monday afternoon.