Doctors need an audience with the CM to address oxygen crisis, says Delhi hospital Medical Director

Dr. D.K. Baluja, Medical Director of the Jaipur Golden Hospital where 20 patients died on Friday, says ‘when the tragedy happened in my hospital, my oxygen quota never came. It was delayed by 7.5 hours’.

Dr. D.K. Baluja, Medical Director of Jaipur Golden Hospital in Delhi where , says uncertainty in supply of oxygen continues to be an hour-to-hour struggle that is coming in the way of treating patients. Excerpts from an interview. Our last supply was on Sunday at 8 p.m. and we got a great help from the Delhi government with a pop-up supply or else we would have collapsed again. What somebody needs to highlight is, of course, the shortage but what is killing me is the uncertainty of my supply. If the government tells me that this is that amount you will get every four hours or six hours, I can plan much better. If you promise me my quota and then do not deliver the amount promised, I cannot plan ahead for the treatment of my patients. This needs thorough and accurate planning of how to use resources during a shortage. That they have already done on April 22 and have issued a notification via the special secretary of Family Health and Welfare fixing my quota of oxygen. But my promised quota never came. When the tragedy happened in my hospital, my quota never came. It was delayed by 7.5 hours. In a hospital, this is a long time when we are battling to save lives every minute. When it finally arrived, we were able to save many patients, but the critically ill patients did not make it as the pressure of oxygen was low. Even while refilling, it takes time for the pressure to build up. We are promised a supply every 24 hours but when it does not arrive what can we do?