'6 Delhi hospitals have run out of oxygen, 7 have under 5 hours left'

Six hospitals in the national capital have exhausted their oxygen supply while seven others have less than five hours of oxygen left, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday.

In a letter to the Union health minister, Sisodia pointed out that six hospitals -- Saroj Super Speciality Hospital, Shanti Mukund, Tirath Ram Shah Hospital, UK Nursing Home, Rathi Hospital and Santom Hospital -- have exhausted their oxygen supply.

The hospitals that have less than five hours of oxygen supply include Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, BLK Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, Okhla, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Max Superspeciality Hospital, Patparganj, Venketeshwara Hospital and Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, Sisodia pointed out.

"Police and senior officials of the administration in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are stalling the tankers carrying oxygen, delaying the tankers from reaching Delhi hospitals on time," Sisodia said in the letter.

"I urge you to ensure that the oxygen allocated for Delhi by the Centre reaches there without any delay to save lives of the patients," he added.

Several small hospitals in the city struggled to replenish oxygen supply for coronavirus patients on Thursday morning, even as some big healthcare facilities received fresh stock overnight.

The Centre on Thursday directed states to ensure uninterrupted production and supply of medical oxygen and its transport along inter-state borders and said the district magistrate and superintendent of police of the district concerned will be held responsible if there is any violation of its order.

The directive under the stringent Disaster Management Act 2005 was issued by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in the wake of reports that some states blocked supply of medical oxygen to other states amid the sudden spike in coronavirus cases and demand for it.

With several private and government hospitals in Delhi running low on medical oxygen for COVID-19 patients, the Centre raised the national capital's oxygen quota from 378 metric tonnes to 480 metric tonnes on Wednesday.

Sisodia, however, said the increased quota has either not reached Delhi or there have been considerable delay.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) appointed two senior bureaucrats as nodal officers to ensure smooth movement of tankers and facilitate oxygen supply to city hospitals, and directed the Delhi police to provide security logistics from manufacturers' sites to various health facilities in the capital.