Amid a severe shortage of oxygen across the national capital, Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director at Apollo Hospitals urged the central government to declare oxygen tankers as ambulances.
Reddy told CNBC-TV 18, “Delhi is in a critical situation, tankers are stuck at the Haryana border. Request the Govt to declare oxygen tankers as ambulances and allow them to move freely.”
As the Covid-19 infections continue to rise unabated across India, Delhi’s oxygen quota was expanded by the Centre on Wednesday evening amid a severe oxygen crisis in six hospitals. Around 2,000 patients were admitted to these hospitals. The Delhi government had asked for states’ cooperation on supply after instances of tankers being blocked.
The Centre has increased Delhi’s oxygen quota from 378 MT to 500 MT. Delhi has sought 700 MT for its current need, said sources in Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party. The additional oxygen is expected to come from Odisha. “We welcome the hike, but even the 378 MT is not being fully met,” a party leader said.
In the past 24 hrs, Delhi has reported 24,638 fresh Covid-19 cases in 24 hours. This is almost 4,000 less cases than what was reported on Tuesday. However, while 86,526 tests counting both RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests – were conducted on Tuesday, only 78,768 were done on Wednesday. The total number of tests conducted in Delhi now stands at 1,64,84,000.
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Source: News18