We have enough, private hospitals have to find their own oxygen: BMC

While some districts in the state some municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR are panicking amid a shortage of oxygen the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has said that it has enough stock and is well prepared for an emergency However it added that private hospitals have to procure their own stockThe Mulund Jumbo COVID centre has tanks that can keep 13000 litres of liquid oxygen while Rajawadi hospitalrsquos tanks can store 7000 litres Representation picThe kin of many patients has been taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to raise the shortage of oxygen supply and beds However the BMC has said that it has over 1500 oxygen beds lying vacant and that they are well prepared even for an emergencyThe BMC has appointed an agency to provide its hospitals with oxygen and in case there are issues with the agency there are two other agencies on standby that can easily fulfil the demand to ensure there are no hiccups in treatmentThese points were reiterated by the doctors of the Mulund Jumbo COVID Centre and Rajawadi hospital The Mulund centre which houses 1150 patients daily needs 4898 cubic metres of liquid medical oxygen that is stored in two tanks that have a capacity of 13000 litres This centre has also kept 98 jumbo cylinders for emergency useldquoEarlier our oxygen refill had been happening three times in a week now itrsquos been refilled every alternate dayrdquo said Dr Pradeep Angre dean of the Mulund centre ldquoThe consumption of oxygen has gone up as the centre is running on full capacity but there is adequate storage and supply of oxygenrdquo he addedAn important hospital in the eastern suburbs Rajawadi currently houses 100 patients The BMC is in the process of adding 50 beds to the facility The hospital has two tanks storing liquid oxygen with a capacity of 7000 litres ldquoOut of 100 patients 60 to 70 patients require oxygen and our stock lasts for three to four days There is no shortage of oxygen in our hospitalrdquo she saidSpeaking to midday Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said ldquoWe are not facing any shortage of oxygen supply and have enough stock available with us We are fully prepared and even emergency stock is in abundance Our focus is on increasing beds and giving proper treatment in timerdquoWhen asked about the shortage in private hospitals he said ldquoWe have not received any major complaints regarding a shortage of oxygen supply in private hospitals so far Their oxygen supply is coordinated by the Food and Drugs AdministrationrdquoKakani added ldquoFor any issues related to beds or critical patients in need people should call their local ward war roomrdquoOn Monday civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal also said that ward war rooms have been told to direct COVID patients to jumbo centres for treatmentldquoWhile we have not had any shortage and have adequate supply for oxygen there is a difficulty in refilling it We are in touch with authorities to secure future procurementrdquo a representative of KJ Somaiya hospital saidSources in Nanavati hospital said that they have enough oxygen for the number of oxygen beds they have However in case for any reason if the oxygen beds have to be increased they would have to work things around itEmergency stockThe NMMC currently has adequate oxygen stock for patients admitted to its various facilities NMMC Commissioner Abhijeet Bangar said ldquoCurrently we have enough oxygen stock for daily use Apart from this we have an additional emergency oxygen stock to last 20 days We have also been told to instal liquid oxygen tanks which give additional capacity to the facilityrdquo1500No of oxygenated beds the BMC claims it has at its disposal