As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage, the situation in Delhi has shown little change over the last few weeks. Hospitals continue to send distress messages with alarming frequency, even as others take to social media in a frantic search for emergency drugs and other medical supplies. In some cases, patients have also passed away after hospitals in the national capital ran out of oxygen.
On Tuesday, the Army Base Hospital reportedly faced an oxygen crisis, with supplies dwindling rapidly. As per updates shared on Twitter, while supplies are being replenished, this is merely a fraction of the total requirements. Reports indicate that while the Delhi government had been allotting 1 MT of oxygen until Monday this is less than a third of the total daily requirement. Additionally, this amount has now been cut to half. This in turn has prompted the hospital to mobilise vehicles to ferry back cylinders from nearby cities including Haridwar.
In another incident, Delhi's Triton Children’s Hospital came alarmingly close to running out of oxygen. Around 9:30 am, the hospital had reportedly said that they were left with a single back up cylinder. This was the second SOS within a span of 12 hours sent by the hospital. While not a COVID-19 hospital, Trident is a children's hospital with around 10 newborns in the NICU.
