Ganga Ram Hospital issues another SOS: Only 1 hour oxygen left

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of the Delhi’s prominent hospitals, on Saturday cried out for help with its chairperson Dr DS Rana saying the hospital had only one hour of oxygen left.

All the city hospitals, both government and private, have been battling the shortage of oxygen since last week besides ICU beds and other things.

On Friday, at least 25 critically ill patients at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital died, in part due to low supply of oxygen. “Yesterday, 25 patients died here. They did not die only because of lack of oxygen. Lack of Oxygen was one of the contributing factors. Today 21 patients have died. Lack of Oxygen is always a contributing factor. I don’t know how we are coping. I think we will all die, even me,” said Dr DS Rana.

“Now the Ganga Ram hospital has only oxygen supply enough for one hour. Right now, the Oxygen level is so low that the ventilators are being run manually as there is no pressure left. Our hospital cannot run like this,” added Rana.

On Saturday morning, a hospital spokesperson had said that the daily consumption of oxygen was 10,000 cubic metre and the hospital required a minimum of 11,000 cubic metre to ensure stable functioning.

“We have 560 patients here and another 96 patients in the adjoining hospital. Sometimes we are given 500 cubic metres and at other times 1,500 cubic metres, but this is enough only for low pressure for less than two hours. Unless we have 3,000 cubic metre in reserve supply, our ventilators won’t run automatically. For 13 hours now, we have been running the ventilators manually,” Dr Rana said.

“Every two hours I get a call from a VIP asking for beds. Where am I supposed to get the beds from? All our beds are full and even for patients on those beds, we are unable to ensure steady oxygen supply. We have not stopped admissions, but all our beds are full. We are hoping the situation will improve, but it hasn’t so far, and I don’t know if it will,” asserted Rana.

The chairperson said he had been contacting officers in both the central and state government. “I contacted someone in the central government, whom I will not name, but he immediately told me this is not his duty but that of the Delhi government. The central government official said they have given the supply to the state government and it is the state government’s duty to distribute it. I did not expect such a stupid answer from them. The state government does not know what to do,” said Rana.

“Who will we contact now? We have called the nodal officers, at least four IAS officers who are in charge. They also answer only after we ring them 10 times only to tell us that they can’t do anything and that that whenever oxygen reaches them, they would supply,” added Dr Rana.

“Why can’t everyone just be transparent? What is the daily requirement of oxygen in Delhi now? Is there a problem in supply or a problem in distribution? All hospitals in Delhi are struggling for oxygen, so then there is obviously a problem of supply. This means they are not able to meet the demand. Then there is inter-state politics. Tanks are going missing. There is no streamlined process. Governments may claim that all processes are streamlined, but the ground reality is different. Why isn’t the government providing any solution?”

Several hospitals such as Max Group, Batra Hospitals and Jaipur Golden have approached the Delhi High Court for relief as all those hospitals were facing oxygen shortage. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has not yet approached the court. “We have not gone to court yet. We are now busy calling both central government and state government officers. That’s all we are doing all day. That’s what our job has become. We cant sleep all night; we hardly sleep for two hours. There is no one listening to us. We are helpless. We were told oxygen is on its way, but it has not reached us. When it was about to get over at night 12.30 am, some supply came. Then a little came in the morning. That is what we are running now,” added Rana.