Delhi likely to get remaining 18 oxygen plants from France later this month

The national capital has received three out of the 21 PSA oxygen plants from France and is likely to get the remaining later this month

The national capital has received three out of the 21 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants from France and is likely to get the remaining later this month, officials said on Saturday.

The three PSA oxygen plants donated by France have been installed at Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital in Narela, Ambedkar Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.

"The Union Health Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs are monitoring it. They are expected to reach us during this month," Ashish Kundra, prinicpal secretary, Transport and OSD (Health) said at an online briefing.

Of the total oxygen supplied to Delhi presently, an average of 29 per cent is supplied by the Railways and an average of 71 per cent is via roadways, Kundra said.

An average of 507.5 MT of oxygen is supplied to Delhi on a daily basis, he said.

Ten SOS calls were received on May 7 and but they have reduced, the official said.

He pointed out that the central government hospitals consume about 9.39 per cent of the total allocated oxygen, Delhi government hospitals consume 20.20 per cent and private hospitals consume 50.20 per cent.

The remaining 15.67 per cent is reserved for emergency SOS calls while 3.03 per cent quota is given to districts for providing the facility to citizens, he said.

"A fair distribution and allocation strategy is being prepared for the optimal utilization of the given oxygen. GPS tracking system is helping to monitor the real time time locations of the tankers for the seamless supply of oxygen in Delhi.

"A network team has been formed which is giving real time information from different parts of the country on the oxygen management system. District Magistrates are tracking through their teams whether the oxygen is reaching the earmarked hospitals and institutions on a timely basis," he said.

The national capital is ramping up the capacities in terms of transportation of liquid oxygen across the city, the government had earlier said.

"The supply chain of oxygen has become more efficient through the railway movement. All the DMs are tracking each and every re-filler and making sure that it reaches the destination which is earmarked," he said.

Kundra said there are officers deployed at plants in West Bengal, Odisha, etc and they get real time information about when the tanker starts its journey.

"Real time monitoring of oxygen tankers is being done by the team formed by the government to mitigate the challenges and obstacles in the supply chain management of the oxygen in the national capital," he said.

The Delhi government has also deputed a team of officers to each of the oxygen plant locations, which makes sure that there are no glitches and any administrative obstacles in the oxygen supply to Delhi, he added.

Kundra said citizens can log on to delhi.gov.in to access cylinders donation sheet and can also book cylinder refilling at https://oxygen.jantasamvad.org.

More than 1,100 cylinders were distributed on May 7 for home isolation patients, he said.

The senior official also cautioned against black marketing of oxygen cylinders or medicines and said the government has zero-tolerance for black marketers.

The government has set up 174 hunger relief centres, he said, adding that this initiative will make sure that the poor and needy are being given food on a daily basis.

In the last one week, close to nine lakh meals have been distributed for the needy in the city, he added.