Max hospitals at Shalimar Bagh and Patparganj receive oxygen: HC informed

The Delhi High Court was on Wednesday informed that Shalimar Bagh and Patparganj Max Hospitals have received oxygen amid the deteriorating Covid-19 situation.

A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli was informed by the counsels present in the hearing that oxygen has been supplied to the two hospitals.

During the middle of the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that he has received information that one Max hospital has received oxygen. During the course of the hearing, Inox counsel told the court that the oxygen tanker has reached a hospital half an hour ago.

The court said that it hoped that the needs of petitioner Max hospitals and other hospitals in Delhi are met and the requirements of oxygen supply will continue to COVID-19 patients and others until "we take up the matter tomorrow".

Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Sandeep Sethi told the high court that there is a capacity of only eight hours in two Max Hospitals one in Vaishali and the other in Gurugram, which will not last till morning.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, who was representing the Delhi government, suggested that the Centre can facilitate a corridor with paramilitary forces for the transport of oxygen so that it (oxygen) can reach its destination without any obstructions.

The court asked the Centre to provide safe passage so that oxygen can reach Delhi. The central government assured an uninterrupted supply of 480 MT of oxygen to Delhi.

The court was hearing the petition of Max Healthcare submitting that its hospitals are the largest private sector healthcare provider in the NCR Delhi.

The hospital network presently has over 1,400 Covid-19 patients admitted in its various hospitals in the NCR.

Most of these patients are being supported on medical oxygen. Presently, most of the hospitals in the network are working on dangerously low levels of oxygen supply, which can lead to a very serious adverse patient incident.

The hospital at (Max) Patparganj has currently only three hours of supply of oxygen and if oxygen run-outs, the life of 400 patients out of which there are 262 Covid patients will be under threat. A number of these patients are critical and on ventilator support and in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the petitioner stated.

The hospital chain also submitted that it has been running from pillar to post and made a number of requests, both to the Centre and Delhi government. However, there is no visibility for the supply of oxygen to the hospital either from the Centre and Delhi government, no action has been forthcoming from the respondents, the plea stated.

Delhi reported 24,638 new COVID-19 cases and 249 related deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the data released by the Delhi government's health department on Wednesday.

( With inputs from ANI )