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Saroj Super Specialty Hospital, Rohini has moved the Delhi High Court seeking an urgent critical supply of oxygen to it. This comes shortly after the Max Group filed a similar petition, according to some media reports. It said that as of 10 A.M today on April 22 it had only one hour of supply left but it later managed to arrange some quantity that would suffice for a few hours only. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was present on behalf of the Centre and Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra represented the Delhi Government.
Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli were hearing the matter and said that if the supply of oxygen is blocked, local authorities responsible for the movement of oxygen will be held criminally liable. “We direct that non compliance will invite criminal action”, said the Bench as per LiveLaw.
As per an Indian Express report, the High Court Bench slammed the Centre for not implementing orders of oxygen allocation properly. “The centre did not seem to implement it seriously…As it stands, we all know this country is being run by God”, remarked the upset High Court Bench.
Tragically, during the hearing, another hospital intervened saying that they only have three hours of supply left, endangering its Covid-19 patients. Rahul Mehra submitted before the court that Rathi Hospital and Shanti Mukund are also struggling to acquire oxygen cylinders.
Further, Senior Advocate Mehra for Delhi Government argued that even though the allocation of oxygen from the Centre has increased, in reality, only 80-100 metric ton has been received by the National Capital. He said that the shortage was due to obstruction of oxygen tankers being sent from Air Liquidae, Panipat, etc, reported LiveLaw.
During the hearing, Mehra further said that the plants from which Delhi is to receive oxygen is spread across India (West Bengal, Odisha). So, despite the best intentions of the Centre, due to a lot of distance, Delhi has not been able to receive adequate oxygen.
On the other hand, the court was informed by the SG that the Central Government has passed an order under the Disaster Management Act for uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen across India. The Bench has strictly ordered that there should be free movement of oxygen carrying vehicles into the cities and that the local administration, such as DMs, SSPs will be personally liable for the implementation of the order, as per Bar & Bench.
The Division Bench said, “We direct the Central Government to ensure allocation takes place as planned and transportation of the tankers takes place unhindered. Adequate security to be provided to lorries transporting the oxygen, to move without obstruction,” reported LiveLaw.
The court was also apprised that many hospitals are turning away patients or issuing discharge letters as they don’t have oxygen to treat Covid-19 patients. The Bench also noted how some oxygen tankers from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are being obstructed by other local authorities to enter Delhi as the demand is increasing across the country.
As reported by Bar & Bench, the Delhi High Court asked the Centre, “…What we are telling you is that tankers are not being allowed to come into Delhi? Then what is the point of paper allocation (of oxygen) if they are not being allowed to transport?”
From thereon, the Additional Secretary (Ministry of Home) assured the court that tankers are not being stopped and they are restoring the movement, planning to deliver about 140-160 metric tons to Delhi today. He said that he has also spoken to the Chief Secretary Haryana and has been ensured that no more problems will arise. To this, the court remarked, “Problem is that it has to be supplied every day, it’s not a one-day thing.”
In an urgent application by Max Hospitals about the shortage of oxygen in its hospitals across Delhi with only 2-3 hours of oxygen left, the Delhi High Court had expressed its utter dismay that oxygen was not diverted from industries to medical use on an urgent basis.
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