New Delhi: The Delhi government on Tuesday set up a round-the-clock emergency helpline involving three IAS officers and over 20 call centre executives to ensure smooth oxygen supply in the national capital in the wake of the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The move came at a time when Delhi government expects oxygen supply to touch 500 MT by Wednesday or Thursday.
To facilitate the citizens in these testing times, setting up of a 24×7 helpline may strengthen the supply chain management of oxygen in the city.
The announcement was made after senior health officials of the Delhi government on Tuesday briefed the media about the matters related to oxygen supply and healthcare management over a zoom meeting.
“The demand for oxygen in Delhi is expected to be approximately 976 MT by May 11. The Central government has allocated 590 MT to the government of Delhi,” read a Delhi government statement.
To ensure that there is no shortage of oxygen, it said, the Delhi government is working to make sure that the supply chain is robust and efficient, the movement of oxygen is regular, with the suppliers supplying oxygen to Delhi as per the prescribed roster.
Oxygen is to be supplied to Delhi from the nearby districts such as Roorkee, Panipat and Ghaziabad to make the supply chain more robust and time-efficient.
At present, oxygen supply is coming from far-off places, mostly from the eastern part of the country, resulting in higher turnaround time.
The Delhi government said that it is closely coordinating with the officials from the government of India to meet the desired demand for oxygen in the city.
“Senior officials from the Railway Ministry, IOCL and Concorde have been designated to ensure undisturbed supply of oxygen to Delhi. The government of India provided Delhi with additional ISO containers,” it said.
The Delhi government has also deputed a team of officials to each of the oxygen plant locations to make sure that there are no glitches or administrative obstacles in the supply of oxygen to Delhi.
“The barometer to find the severity of the situation is monitored on a daily basis with the help of SOS alerts,” it said.
Within Delhi, there are 14 refillers, which get liquid oxygen from different suppliers. They fill up the gas cylinders and provide them to different institutions, it said, adding, “one-fourth of Delhi’s oxygen supply is dependent on these cylinders”.
To overcome this, the statement said, Delhi government has decentralised the system and given powers to the respective district magistrates to ensure smooth functioning of the supply chain.
Teams have been formed under the divisional commissioners which are closely monitoring and tracking the movement of the tankers, it said.
“Delhi has prepared a fair distribution and allocation strategy for the optimal utilisation of the given oxygen. Many NGOs and religious organisations are extending their helping hand to fight this pandemic,” it said.
Meanwhle, the government is also trying to increase the bed capacity in the government hospitals from 5,200 to 7,200 beds.
In terms of vaccination, the national capital on Monday administrated 89,297 vaccines, with over 61,000 beneficiaries receiving the first dose.
