Holy Family Hospital thanks media, Delhi govt for timely oxygen supply; says state, Centre need to improve logistics

A possible crisis was averted at Holy Family Hospital in the national capital on Friday when an emergency supply of liquid oxygen, arranged by the Delhi government reached the hospital, with only half an hour of reserve remaining.

Thanking the media and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government, Dr Sumit Ray, medical superintendent of Holy Family Hospital said the healthcare system needs an improvement as logistics can not be orgsed by individual hospital, and they have to be arranged by state and central forces combined.

"Today morning we had a huge crisis. We were down to our last half an hour of oxygen almost. I must thank the media friends who constantly tried to contact government officials. We also contacted government officials. They were trying to help but were in a real critical situation as the last half an hour of oxygen was left. The Delhi government sent it emergency supplies and filled our tank at the last moment," said Dr Ray.

He said that now the hospital's company supplier has also made arrangements and the hospital's reserve will last till tomorrow morning.

"But this is not just our problem. Other hospitals are facing the same problem. Everybody is living on the edge of oxygen requirement. Our oxygen supplies are getting refilled only two to three hours before it dies out at best. Sometimes, like today, we are getting refills only half an hour before we run out, like today. The system can not run like this. The logistics need to improve," the doctor said.

He said because of the 'devastating' situation due to the continuous increase in COVID cases, the "system is overwhelmed".

"Hospital we are full beyond capacity, Hospital staff is ready to work beyond their capacity, but the government needs to impose a strong lockdown in the area in Delhi and NCR where there is a surge in COVID cases," he said.

The doctor opined that the production of medical oxygen in the country is not a problem, but distribution is. "The logistics can not be orgsed by an individual hospital. It has to be done by state and central combination of forces...there has to be cooperation and communication between state and Central government and oxygen should be distributed properly," he said.

Sambhu Kumar, a Biomedical engineer at Holy Family Hospital said the oxygen consumption of the hospital has increased more than 10 times due to the surge in COVID cases.

"Earlier, in 24 hours we consumed only 200 kilograms of liquid oxygen in a normal situation. But, now we are consuming 2,400 kilograms of liquid oxygen in the same period," said Kumar.

He added that it is a tough time for medical staff as there are "no working hours in this crisis"

"We are working 24 hours, sometimes 2-3 days continuously without going home. Now, we have less manpower, and that is why we are taking help from security staff and other maintenance employees, whom we have trained. But for monitoring, we have to stand there all the time," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )