Army Base Hospital faces oxygen woes after Delhi cuts quota

The Army had to call in emergency resources, some from as far away as Haridwar, to cater to the shortages after the allotment was reduced by a third, impacting over 450 patients on oxygen support, with a waiting list of hundreds more.

Sources said the Army Base Hospital had an allotment of 1 MT of oxygen till Monday which has been cut down to 0.42 MT overnight, triggering an acute crisis. The actual requirement for the hospital is pegged at over 3 MT as it caters to both serving soldiers and veterans.

“We have mobilised our resources to bring in supplies from wherever possible but the allocation is too inadequate,” sources said. There is also a sense of disbelief in the army over the quota reduction, given that just a day ago, the Delhi government had appealed to the defence ministry for a 1,000-bed makeshift hospital by the armed forces.

The forces are already running a 500-bed Covid centre near the Delhi airport in aid of the civil administration, with DRDO setting up the facility and the services, providing doctors and medical staff.

Meanwhile, two oxygen plants developed by DRDO have reached the national capital and are being installed at AIIMS and RML hospital. The plants, manufacturing by Coimbatore-based Trident Pneumatics, are likely to be made operational this week itself and will be able to support at least 195 patients each. In partnership with the industry, DRDO will be delivering 500 such plants across the country within the next three months, five of which will be for Delhi.

“These are to be installed at AIIMS Trauma Centre, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College and one at AIIMS, Jhajjar, Haryana. As per schedule, two of these plants reached Delhi on May 4 and are being installed at AIIMS and RML Hospitals respectively,” the DRDO spokesperson said.

The Medical Oxygen Plant (MOP) technology is based on the On‐Board Oxygen Generation for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and the plants have been ordered using resources from the PM-CARES Fund.