Delhi received 555 tonnes of oxygen on May 4, highest till now: AAP

The national capital received 555 tonnes of oxygen on Tuesday, the highest till now, said AAP MLA Raghav Chadha as the city hospitals struggled with a shortage in the supply of the life-saving gas amid a spurt in coronavirus cases.

While issuing the oxygen bulletin on Wednesday, he said the High Court has scolded the Centre and even “compared it to an ostrich”. “Maybe because of this rap, Delhi received 555 metric tonnes (MT) of Liquid Medical Oxygen as against the requirement of 976 MT, which is the highest till now.

“However, this oxygen was not made available from regular sources but from an ad hoc arrangement. We did not receive it from our regular sources but Centre arranged it from other states and gave Delhi the oxygen that was being sent elsewhere,” Chadha claimed.

He also said the Delhi government received 48 SOS calls regarding oxygen shortage and cylinders not being refilled, and they were addressed.

“We supplied 36.40 tonnes of oxygen to address SOS calls. Theses hospitals had a total of 4,036 oxygen-supported beds. It means, we helped 4,036 lives,” Chadha said in an online briefing.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to show cause as to why contempt not be initiated against it for failing to comply with order on supply of oxygen to Delhi for treating COVID-19 patients. “You can put your head in sand like an ostrich, we will not,” the high court told the central government.

It added that the Supreme Court has already directed, and now the high court is also saying that the Centre will have to supply 700 MT oxygen daily to Delhi right away by whatever means. On May 1, 12 COVID-19 patients, including a senior doctor, had died at south Delhi’s Batra Hospital after the facility ran out of medical oxygen for around 80 minutes in the afternoon.

The tragic incident occurred in less than two weeks of 20 coronavirus patients dying at Jaipur Golden Hospital and 25 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, amid the oxygen crisis in the national capital.

(Cover: Credit – Getty Images)