New Delhi, Apr 25 (IANS): The wailing chaos over shortage of oxygen, primarily in the national capital, would have been contained to some extent if seven oxygen generation plants would have been installed in time, a senior official in the Union government said.
"Despite weekly reviews for the past five months, the site readiness for these plants was delayed by the Delhi government," the official told IANS.
Sources informed that eight Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Generation plants have to be installed in Delhi by the support of PM CARES Funds.
These plants, if ready by now, would have enhanced the capacity of oxygen by 14.4 metric tonnes in the capital. However, of the 8 PSA plants, only one plant in Burari Hospital, Kaushik Enclave has been installed by March 17, 2021.
Officials of the Union government said that four plants are now expected to be completed by the end of this month as work is being expedited.
These plants include one each at Deen Dayal Upadhya Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital Rohini & Deepa Chand Bandhu Hospital Ashok Vihar.
"We hope by April 30, plants would be ready," sources added.
Though the Delhi government's version is awaited on the issue, the Centre reportedly said that delay was at the end of the state government.
"Site readiness of these hospitals was delayed by the state government despite weekly reviews with them since November 2020," sources said.
Meanwhile for Ambedkar Nagar Hospital, Dakshinpuri, the site has been readied as late as only April 19, 2021 by the state government.
As per an official, the site readiness certificate of Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital, Narela has not yet been submitted by the state government.
Delhi and NCR cities have been battling against the worst wave of the Covid-19 pandemic for over a past fortnight.
The positivity rate which remains over 32 per cent in Delhi has resulted in a sudden surge in covid positive patients making all hospitals overcrowded. Moreover, the crisis of oxygen shortage is making the situation vulnerable in the capital. Several leading hospitals are making SOS calls for an oxygen crisis.
On Saturday, Delhi's Jaipur Golden hospital had reported over 20 deaths of patients due to lack of oxygen. Subsequently the Delhi High Court had to intervene in the matter.
Since the last few days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been requesting other chief ministers to send extra oxygen to the capital to restore supply of oxygen to hospitals.