In a new development concerning the national capital, the Supreme Court oxygen audit team’s shocking report said that the Delhi govt asked 4 times more oxygen than required. As per the team’s report, the Delhi govt sought 1,140 MT of medical grade oxygen which is 4 times more than the consumption per bed which remained at 289MT.

Contents hide
1. Background
2. Details
3. 4 Hospitals Claimed High Oxygen Consumption with Few Beds
4. Oxygen tankers couldn’t offload oxygen due to full tanks at hospitals
5. 12 States faced shortage as oxygen was diverted to Delhi
6. Task Force Provides Recommendations
7. Opposition Slams Kejriwal Govt

Background

Earlier, the Supreme Court created an oxygen audit panel which is headed by Dr. Randeep Guleria, AIIMS director and includes Bhupinder Bhalla, Delhi’s Home Secretary, Subodh Yadav, Union Jal Shakti Ministry’s secretary & Sandeep Buddhiraja, Max Healthcare director. This panel was formed after the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party govt urged Centre multiple times to provide medical oxygen.

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Details

The new oxygen audit report – which is submitted to the Supreme Court – said how the Delhi govt asked for 4 times more oxygen than it required. The interim report stated that the Delhi govt’s claim of 1,140 MT requirement of medical oxygen was 4 times more than the overall consumption per bed capacity formula, which was calculated at 289 MT.

The report read-

“Sub-group set up by Supreme Court for Oxygen audit of Delhi “noted gross discrepancy” in actual consumption claimed vs calculated consumption by formula for bed capacity. Former (1140 MT) was “about 4 times higher” than latter (289 MT).”

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4 Hospitals Claimed High Oxygen Consumption with Few Beds

Further the report also said that 4 prominent Delhi hospitals – Singhal, Aryan Asaf Ali, ESIC Model & Liferay claimed critically high liquid medical oxygen consumption with only a few beds. Pertaining to that, the report read-

“the claims appeared to be clearly erroneous leading to extremely skewed info and significantly higher Oxygen requirement for Delhi.”

It should be noted that the Supreme Court Justice D.Y. Chandrachud & Justice M.R. Shah had earlier set up a 12-member task force and asked them to form an audit report on the national capital’s oxygen distribution. This decision was made after several alarming SOS calls were made by the Delhi hospitals and govt alike.

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Oxygen tankers couldn’t offload oxygen due to full tanks at hospitals

As per the findings of the task force, on May 13, several oxygen tankers could not deliver oxygen at the hospitals because their oxygen tanks were already functioning at over 75% capacity. Prominent govt hospitals such as Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP Hospital) & AIIMS also reported oxygen tanks with full capacity.

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12 States faced shortage as oxygen was diverted to Delhi

Moreover, according to the report, due to Delhi’s call for more oxygen, 12 states across the nation ended up facing shortage of oxygen supply as the oxygen was diverted to the national capital. The report also claims that between April 29 and May 10 – when the second wave of the pandemic was at its peak – the consumption of oxygen in Delhi had to be “corrected” in accordance to the “errors in reporting by hospitals”.

Task Force Provides Recommendations

The task force formed by the Supreme Court also provided certain recommendations for better allocation and consumption of oxygen. As per the task force, states should have a “strategy to manufacture oxygen locally or in the neighbourhood for big cities to fulfill at least 50% of their oxygen demand as road transportation is vulnerable”. This suggestion could be a constructive one, given how Delhi, Mumbai & Uttar Pradesh have high population density.

The task force further recommended-

“All 18 metro cities are to be made oxygen-independent with at least 100 MT storage in the city itself.”

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Opposition Slams Kejriwal Govt

Meanwhile, after the panel’s claims on Delhi’s “exaggeration” of oxygen requirements, members of opposition parties took to Twitter to slam the Kejriwal government. BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra was quoted by ANI saying-

“It is unbelievable to see that Arvind Kejriwal & Delhi govt politicised oxygen supply when COVID was at its peak. This is such petty politics. The data presented by Oxygen Audit Committee in the report is shocking.”