Uttar Pradesh: Few hours of oxygen supply left, says AMU’s hospital

AMU's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday sent out an alert, saying it has not received oxygen cylinders for the past four days and its own plants are running out of liquid oxygen.

The frontline central government hospital in Uttar Pradesh, which is a part of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), has 273 oxygen-dependent patients, including those suffering from COVID-19, officials said.

Though the hospital has oxygen plants, they have just "a few hours" of liquid oxygen supply, a senior official said, adding that a truck of liquid oxygen is expected to arrive today.

Of the 273 patients, 63 are COVID-19 positive, 140 have shown symptoms of the infection and are being tested, and 70 are non-COVID patients in serious condition, the officials said.

"We have not received a single cylinder of oxygen since the past four days and are now totally dependent on our own three plants for oxygen, which are awaiting supply of raw material (liquid oxygen)," the medical college-cum-hospital's principal Shahid Ali Siddiqi said.

Two of the plants are at the trauma centre of the hospital, while one at its old building complex. These plants convert liquid oxygen to gaseous state and then it is administered to patients.

"Our two liquid oxygen plants at the trauma centre are left with just a few hours of supply. We are expecting a truck load of raw stock supplies any time today. We hope that with this fresh arrival of stock our two plants will continue to function without a break," he said.

Siddiqi said the third liquid oxygen plant in the old building is functioning round the clock and is a "life saver". This plant has raw stock "for another 36 hours", he said.

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday recorded its highest COVID-19 death toll so far as 265 people succumbed to the disease, while the state added nearly 33,000 fresh cases, taking the overall tally to 11,53,097, according to official data.

In view of the shortage, AMU Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor on Wednesday announced that the university will install a new oxygen plant within the next 30 days.

The university has from its own resources generated Rs 1.4 crore for purchasing this plant on an emergency basis, he said.

AMU Registrar Abdul Hamid said, "Our main priority is to save human lives". The new plant will also be able to refill oxygen cylinders, he said.

Aligarh MP Satish Gautam had told reporters on Tuesday night that he had a telephonic conversation with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The chief minister has assured that medical oxygen is being brought from Bokaro in Jharkhand and with this the immediate requirements of Aligarh, Mathura and Agra will be fulfilled.

He said that the chief minister has assured that the present shortage would be met.