Covid-19 : Delhi inflated oxygen need by 4 times during peak, says Supreme Court panel.
The Supreme Court oxygen audit team has put the Kejriwal government in the dock for exaggerating the oxygen requirement for Delhi by more than four times during the 25 Apr - 10 May peak of second Covid wave and informed the SC that supply of excess oxygen to Delhi could have triggered a crisis in its supply to 12 high caseload states.
The report of the SC-appointed oxygen audit sub-group said, "There was a gross discrepancy (about four times). The actual oxygen consumption claimed by the Delhi government (1,140 MT) was about four times higher than the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity (289 MT)".
The Petroleum and Oxygen Safety Organisation (PESO) told the sub-group that "National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) had surplus oxygen, which is affecting liquid medical oxygen (LMO) supply to other states" and apprehended that if excess O2 was kept supplied to Delhi, it could lead to a national crisis.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud on 05 May agonised by the AAP government's shrill cries about oxygen shortage in the national capital, had directed the Union government to maintain supply of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi even as solicitor general Tushar Mehta had presented a expert-devised calculation to peg the requirement at 415 MT of LMO.
However, the SC had also asked the audit team headed by AIIMS director, Randeep Guleria to examine the model for 'optimum utilisation of oxygen' implemented in Bombay, which managed with 275 MT oxygen during peak caseload of 92,000 Covid patients. Delhi had demanded 900 MT oxygen for peak caseload of 95,000 patients on 03 May.
The oxygen audit sub-group also included Delhi government's principal (Home) secretary Bhupinder S Bhalla, Max Hospital's Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, joint secretary in Union Jal Shakti ministry Subodh Yadav and controller of explosives Sanjay K Singh.
In its interim report to the SC, the sub-group said it drafted a proforma to "calculate accurate oxygen requirement of NCTD" and circulated it among 183 hospitals including all major ones, responded with oxygen consumption data which was analysed against three parameters viz. -
* actual consumption of oxygen
* requirement as per Centre's formula and
* Delhi government's formula.
It said actual LMO consumption in 183 hospitals as per Delhi government was 1,140 MT but according to hospital supplied information, the actual consumption was only 289 MT and as per the Delho government formula it would have been 391 MT, it said.
"The recommended LMO consumption as per Union government formula for total bed strength on 03 May (highest till date : 16,272 non-ICU beds and 5,886 ICU beds) would have been 415 MT and if the Delhi government's formula was applied for calculation, it would have been 568 MT of LMO", the report said and clarified that though the Delhi government had claimed that its formula was based on ICMR guidelines, no such guidelines were placed before the SC-audit team for scrutiny.
Dr Guleria-led audit team said Singhal Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital, ESIC Model Hospital and Liferays Hospital had "claimed extremely high oxygen consumption with very few beds and the claims appeared to be clearly skewed information and significantly higher LMO requirements for Delhi....Actual consumptions were estimated by recalculation after replacing the claimed use figures using the calculation formula", the report said.
The sub-group noted that the "formula used by the Union government was devised by a group of experts and is used for making LMO allocation to various states. This formula assumes that only 50% of the non-ICU beds use oxygen. The Delhi government assumes that 100% of non-ICU beds use oxygen. Calculations were made using both formulae".
Dr Guleria-led team said, "Even though the hospitalisation policy is to admit only moderate to severely affected Covid patients, many do not require LMO during recovery but cannot be discharged due to comorbidities or a waxing and waning course. They continue to occupy 'oxygenated non-ICU beds' particularly if all the Covid beds in the hospital have oxygen capability ot the non-oxygen Covid beds are full. This is the real life experience of all major hospitals including AIIMS.
Thus, assuming that all patients admitted on 'oxygenated non-ICU beds' will need LMO for calculating the oxygen requirement will be an overestimation.
- Dhananjay Mahapatra in ToI.
My take.
So, what was Kejriwal angling for? By claiming higher requirements of LMO for Delhi's use, he was trying to disrupt the oxygen distribution in the entire country which would have resulted in massive chaos and thereby show, the central government in poor light. And mind you, these shenanigans were taking place against the backdrop of the phased Assembly elections in West Bengal!
Your blind hatred towards Modi makes you do strange things, but in this case the judiciary has also erred. Will it apologise to the country's citizens? And don't you have to answer the kith and kin of the people who lost their near and dear ones to the pandemic only because of your perfidy and inefficiency? Politics has reached its nadir with people like you at the helm! Sad!!
Tailpiece.
Had got up at a half past 5, the chores and was ready well in time for the Rajah medical team that fetched up at 7 o'clock to draw our blood samples. There was a minor faux pas in collecting Lekha's urine sample which was rectified when the team had come yet again to collect post prandial blood sample.
Participated in two webinars viz. :-
* Aazhchakkoottam : "Defence against Covid through Homeopathy" - Dr Subha CB from 1600 - 1730 hrs.
* National webinar : "Evolution of Knowledge Resources - Dr P Perumal from 1830 - 2000 hrs.
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