GASPING FOR BREATH
ON THE NIGHT OF APRIL 23, Subhash Varma, a 53-year-old healthcare professional, and his wife Anuja returned exhausted to their flat in Dwarka, a suburb in southwestern Delhi. They had spent a harrowing day trying to get Anuja’s severely ill sister Tanuja Vidyarthi into the emergency ward at the Jaipur Golden Hospital, a designated Covid-19 treatment centre in Rohini, 22 kilometres away. A schoolteacher from Karol Bagh, Tanuja, 53, had tested positive for Covid on April 16 and rushed to the hospital after her blood oxygen level plummeted to under 70.
At around 1.30 am, the couple got a call from the hospital. Tanuja’s condition had deteriorated and she had to be put on a ventilator. “We don’t know what to do,” the hospital told them, “please come in the morning.” When the Varmas reached hospital five hours later, they were informed that Tanuja hadn’t made it through the night. An anguished wail from distraught relatives of other patients made them realise why: “My sister died because the hospital ran out of oxygen….”
At least 20 patients at the hospital died that day because the medical oxygen running through the pipes in the emergency wards got exhausted. The patients slowly drifted into unconsciousness, most still hooked to their face masks, as the oxygen in their blood drained out, a condition called hypoxia.
“We are literally gasping for breath,” a lawyer for the hospital pleaded before the Delhi High Court later that day. The hospital had exhausted its supply of liquid oxygen by 10 pm—a tanker that was to reach the hospital at 5.30 pm arrived only at midnight. Hospital authorities say when they switched over to their backup cylinders, the drop in pressure killed the patients.
“THE NEW MUTANT STRAINS ARE SO AGGRESSIVE THAT IF YOU DON’T GIVE MEDICINES ON THE 1ST OR 2ND DAY, THE PATIENT IS ALREADY IN A SERIOUS CONDITION”
DR SANDEEP DATTA Pulmonologist & Secy, IMA, West Delhi
Hospitals have blamed the Delhi government for not getting them oxygen in time. The state government, in turn, has blamed the Centre for not ensuring the shipments were not delayed. The blame game continued even as a second, more ferocious wave of Covid-19 turned
