In a time when other states were facing it tough to contain liquid medical oxygen, Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi govt has demanded four times more oxygen supply to the state during the April 25-May 10 than its actual requirements.
According to the reports, the Supreme Court-appointed oxygen audit team has exposed the Delhi government’s claims of oxygen shortage in the national capital, saying that the Delhi government had exaggerated the oxygen requirement in Delhi by more than four times during the second wave of the pandemic even as the country was facing it tough to source liquid medical oxygen (LMO).
According to the report when Delhi needed 289 Metric Tonnes of oxygen, the govt demanded 1,140 MT.
The audit committee also informed the Supreme Court that the supply of excess oxygen to the national capital could have caused supply constraints shortage for at least 12 states who needed it.
The panel noted discrepancies in the data given by Delhi hospitals.
Delhi government exaggerated the oxygen requirement for the city by more than four times between April 25 & May 10. Supply of excess oxygen to Delhi could have triggered a crisis in its supply to 12 high caseload states, as per the report
— ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2021
The panel, led by AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, includes Delhi Government Principal Home Secretary Bhupinder Bhalla, Max Healthcare Director Sandeep Buddhiraja, and Union Jal Shakti Ministry Joint Secretary Subodh Yadav.
It is important to note that many hospitals in Delhi had run out of oxygen supply with some facilities claiming critical Covid-19 patients had died due to a shortage in oxygen supply during April-May. This had triggered a war of words between the Kejriwal government and Centre over the supply of LMO to the national capital.
Twenty-one Covid patients had died at the Jaipur Golden Hospital here in April as the hospital waited for oxygen to be replenished during the second wave.
After the Arvind Kejriwal-led government had claimed LMO shortage, a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud had directed the Union government to maintain the supply of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi even as the center had presented a calculation devised by experts to fix the requirement at 415 MT of LMO.
However, days after the Supreme Court had decided to set up a panel to carry out an audit of supply, distribution, and utilisation of oxygen supply in the national capital, the Delhi government had taken an u-turn about the deficit of medical oxygen saying that they have access supply of oxygen and could even supply the surplus oxygen to the states who need it.
