Covid disaster. After battling for hospital beds and oxygen for nearly a month amid the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the national capital is now struggling to get adequate supply of vaccines.
The Aam Aadmi Part (AAP) led Delhi government said on Monday that the city is not getting adequate supply of vaccines and the stocks of Covaxin in Delhi would run out in the next 24 hours, while the stocks of Covishield are likely to get exhausted in the next three to four days.
“Delhi has stocks for just one day for one, and for three or four days for the other vaccine. Covaxin stock will last a day and Covishield for three or four days,” Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Centre has replied that the national capital will get only 3.5 lakh doses of vaccine in May against its demand for around 3 crore vaccines in the next three months.
The Delhi government had on Sunday informed the Centre that it would need 60 lakh doses of vaccine per month to vaccinate around 93 lakh people in the 18-45 age group between May and July.
Sisodia also slammed the BJP for making a ‘false claim’ that Delhi government did not order for adequate doses of vaccine in advance.
“After the Centre had made it clear that the state governments could directly approach the companies for placing vaccine orders, the Delhi government had in April ordered 1.34 crore vaccines,” Sisodia said.
A large number of youth in the country have died during the second wave of the pandemic, Sisodia said, adding that their lives could have been saved had vaccines were administered to them instead of exporting the doses to other countries.
He said the Centre should ensure that the vaccines manufactured in the country are provided to the states that are facing shortage.
He also reiterated Delhi government’s stand that it can vaccinate everyone in the city within three months provided adequate doses are made available to it.
In a letter to the Union Health Ministry, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Sunday requested the Centre to direct the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to increase monthly supplies of Covid vaccines to Delhi to 60 lakh a month for the next three months.
In a major boost to Delhi’s fight against Covid-19, the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital at Hari Nagar has acquired a captive Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) Oxygen plant ensuring a dedicated oxygen supply for up to 115 beds.
With a capacity of 35 NM3 per hour (equivalent to 5 jumbo cylinders per hour), the plant will contribute to uninterrupted oxygen supply at DDU hospital, which is one of Delhi’s crucial Covid care centres.
The plant has been installed by leading PSA Oxygen generator manufacturer MVS Engineering at record speed to help address the oxygen crisis in the capital.
The need for captive oxygen generator plants at hospitals has been felt like never before at a time when hospitals across Delhi are reeling under the shortage of external oxygen supply.
MVS Engineering has since last year installed PSA Oxygen plants in 40 hospitals across the country, including 4 in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the last two weeks.
“Given the everyday crisis being experienced by hospitals across the capital, we worked at record speed to complete the manufacturing and installation of the PSA Oxygen plant at DDU. We started the building of the machine two weeks ago and had to work very closely with our supply chain partners to expedite the process,” said Siddharth Rastogi, Executive Director at MVS Engineering Pvt Ltd.
“Normally, it takes between 3-4 weeks to complete the manufacturing for a plant. However, given the crisis situation in Delhi, we ensured this plant was built and installed in record time.”
The installation of the plant at DDU was facilitated with the joint efforts of the Bansuri Charitable Society and the Delhi Government’s Dialogue and Development Commission.
The plant has been manufactured and installed at an investment of Rs 91.84 lakh, mobilised by the Bansuri Charitable Society with support of a group of donor organizations including Democracy People Foundation, Martin and Harris Laboratories Ltd, Advance Valves Pvt Ltd, Members of the Rotary Club Delhi Premier, Fancy Fashions Pvt Ltd and DCM Shriram Industries Ltd.
“This collaboration to set up an oxygen plant is a great example of Public Private Partnership. Remarkably, the plant was set up from concept to execution in 15 days. We thank the Delhi Government, MVS engineering and Mr. Roshan Shankar for successful execution of this critical project,” said Alok Shriram, CEO and Senior MD of DCM Shriram Industries Ltd.
Rahul Agarwal, Trustee at Democracy People Foundation said: “We at mission oxygen are very happy to be associated with this project that will ensure unhindered oxygen supply at a key Delhi hospital in these difficult times”.
Nishant Berlia, Board Member, Apeejay Stya Group, also associated with the project said: “At a time when this devastating pandemic is claiming many lives, we are happy that our project will help save many lives. Every life is precious”.