Delhi: Oxygen shortage will be resolved in a day or two, says Ganga Ram Hospital Chairperson

The problem of acute medical oxygen shortage in the national capital will be resolved in a day or two, assured Dr DS Rana, Chairperson of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi on Wednesday, a day after the problem was flagged by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the city.

"I think the existing oxygen plants that have been manufacturing oxygen are trying to cope up with the increase (in demand). Both the Centre and state governments are involved in finding a solution to the oxygen shortage. The problem will be resolved in a day or two," Dr Rana told .

On Tuesday evening, Deputy Chief Minister Msh Sisodia had informed that the hospital only had enough oxygen for another 16 to 18 hours.

Following this, the hospital received about 4,500 cubic metres from a private vendor on Tuesday night, along with 6,000 cubic metres from Inox Air.

"4500 cubic metres of oxygen has been supplied by a private vendor last night, and 6,000 cubic meters was supplied by Inox Air. The total requirement at present is 11,000 cubic meters. Our supply should last till 9 am tomorrow," hospital officials informed on Wednesday morning.

Speaking about the rapidly increasing cases, Dr Rana said, that it was very important for people to continue following government-prescribed COVID-19 protocol and COVID-19 appropriate behaviors like washing hands and maintaining social distancing.

"Avoid going out as much as possible. If one can work from home, one should do so. And one should also avoid unnecessary socialisation," he added.

"Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the lockdown should only be used as a last resort, but we have reached a point where we need a lockdown to reduce the spread of the virus. There has been a steep rise in new cases, this created a lot of problems. There is a lot of strain on health infrastructure," he said.

He further said that during this lockdown, the health infrastructure in the city should be stepped up and cases need to be brought down.

The hospital chairperson also informed that in order to manage patients coming to the hospitals, doctors and nurses of the hospital are encouraged to support their patients online.

"Since we cannot drastically increase the number of healthcare workers, and can only increase beds to a certain extent, we are encouraging doctors and nurses to give advice to patients online, and only call them to the hospital when it is required," he said.

Dr Rana said the new vaccination policy, that allows all citizens above the age of 18 years eligible to get vaccinated, was a welcome move and urged everyone to get inoculated.

"The vaccination policy is good, has been long-awaited. For some reason, the government was not able to implement it earlier but it is good that it has been put in place now. It is a welcome step. It is very important that everyone gets vaccinated. They should not differentiate between kinds of vaccines," he said

( With inputs from ANI )