Just 90 minutes of oxygen left: Delhi's Akash Hospital seeks immediate help

Aakash Healthcare in Delhi's Dwarka on Thursday raised an alarm for an immediate supply of medical oxygen for COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital.

In a video, Dr Kousar A Shah, COO, Aakash Healthcare, said the hospital has only around 90 minutes of oxygen supply left.

"We are in the dilemma about how we will manage the COVID-19 patients. We have 233 Covid patients admitted to the hospital and 75 per cent of them are totally dependent on oxygen. We only have oxygen stock of 1 hour to 1.5 hours. We don't know how we will manage," he said.

Dr Shah said his whole team is trying to arrange oxygen from all possible avenues but nothing can be arranged.

"Our whole team is trying to make arrangements for oxygen, but help can't be arranged. Yesterday, with the help of the Delhi police, some cylinders were arranged but those lasted for just a few hours. We are absolutely helpless," he said.

"Our oxygen supply from other states can't reach us as the states are not allowing the transport. We are in dire need of some help," the doctor added.

A similar incident happened at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital yesterday, where only five hours of oxygen was left for 58 COVID-19 patients admitted there including 10 in the intensive care unit (ICU) at around 4:30 pm.

However, the crisis averted after Haryana-based medical oxygen supplier Linde India commenced the supply of oxygen, and Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital received 45 cylinders at 6 pm.

More than 3 lakh new COVID-19 cases and over 2,000 deaths were reported in India on Thursday, a record-high since the pandemic broke out last year.