12 die at Delhi hospital due to oxygen shortage; HC says 'enough is enough'

Twelve Covid-19 patients, including the HOD of gastroenterology department, of Batra Hospital here died due to oxygen shortage, officials said on Saturday.

The facility ran out of medical oxygen - for the second time in the space of a week - at 11.45 am on Saturday.

We are trying to revive five other critical patients, said a hospital official, reported PTI

"We could not save them even after making efforts from our end. Since this wave hit the country, we've been demanding oxygen from the govt," said Dr SCL Gupta, Medical Director of Delhi's Batra Hospital.

"Our executive director is in regular touch with government officers concerned and has been updating them about our oxygen stock. INOX and Goel are two oxygen suppliers who supply us oxygen. Neither of them picks up our call," Gupta further told ANI.

R K Himthani, head of the gastroenterology department, was among those who died due to lack of oxygen.

Himthani had been admitted to the hospital for the last 15-20 days, the medical director said. Gupta said they had informed the authorities about lack of oxygen Saturday morning when they had 2,500 litres of the life-saving gas left.

Around 12.30 pm, the hospital authorities claimed they had run out of oxygen. The oxygen tanker arrived at 1.35 pm, they said.

“At 7 am, we raised an alarm that we will run out of oxygen by 12 pm. Delhi government didn’t have any oxygen to supply to us. We were without oxygen till 1:35 pm. As a result, we lost 8 patients,” Dr Sudhanshu Bankata, executive director, Batra Hospital, told a news channel.

"Once a patient is pushed to the edge without the support of oxygen, it is very difficult to revive him. Unfortunately, we are expecting more fatalities," said Bankata, executive director of the hospital.

Hospitals across the national capital had sent out SOS messages last week about depleting supplies of oxygen.

The Delhi government has maintained that the city is not getting its allocated quantity of the life-saving gas.

Meanwhile, Delhi High Court on Saturday warned of contempt action against Centre if the allocated 490 MT of oxygen is not supplied to Delhi today.

The court took note of eight deaths in Batra Hospital due to lack of oxygen supply and told the Central government "enough is enough".

"Do you mean we will shut our eyes to the people dying in Delhi," it asked the Centre.

"We mean business. Water has gone above the head," the court said and declined to defer its order.

The court said the government had made an allocation of oxygen to Delhi and should fulfill it.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal reacted to the 'painful' news on Twitter and said the national capital should be given its quota of oxygen.

"This news is very painful. These lives could have been saved - by giving oxygen on time. Delhi should be given oxygen of its quota. Such deaths of our people are not seen anymore. Delhi required 976 tonnes of oxygen and yesterday only 312 tonnes of oxygen was given. How does Delhi breathe in such a low oxygen?," said Kejriwal on Twitter. 

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also reacted to the news on Twitter by bringing out the mismatch in supply and demand of oxygen in the city. 

"The central government yesterday told the Supreme Court that 10,000 MT oxygen is produced daily in the country, which is quite surplus to the daily requirement of 7500MT. Delhi needs 976MT, yet Delhi's quota is 490MT and supplies only 312MT. Why?," said Sisodia. 

In a related development, Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj has stopped taking admissions due to oxygen shortage. The hospital has four hours of oxygen left, sources said, PTI reported.

According to the Delhi Corona mobile application, the hospital has 106 coronavirus patients.

Meanwhile, Sehgal Neo hospital in Meera Bagh sent out an SOS message on Twitter about its dwindling oxygen.

"We request urgent assistance in getting #SOSoxygen. We are running out of our backup supply, and have been waiting for a supply since early morning. We have 90 patients on O2 & 13 in ICU," the hospital tweeted around 12.40 pm.

Hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs have been sending out desperate messages of help on social media and other platforms, flagging their dwindling stocks of oxygen.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital had last week reported the death of 25 of its sickest patients as the administration struggled with depleting oxygen supplies.

Twenty people died at the Jaipur Golden Hospital last week amid shortage of oxygen.

Sisodia had on Friday said that not for a single day has Delhi been able to receive the allocated quantity of 490 MT of oxygen.