Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced to have ramped up the national capital’s health infrastructure in wake of the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant — Omicron, to ensure that a crisis similar to the second wave does not arise here.
“We hope Omicron does not come to India, but we need to be prepared. That is why, as far as beds are concerned, we have prepared 30,000 oxygen beds and around 10,000 of these are ICU beds,” the Delhi Chief Minister said in his virtual address after chairing a review meeting on Covid-19 preparedness.
As the devastating second wave hit the country in the month of April, Delhi was one of the worst affected with the shortage of oxygen cylinders, beds and along with it, the migration of labourers and workers from the state to their native places.
Keeping the second Covid wave in mind, the AAP leader said: “Besides, 6,800 ICU (intensive care unit) beds are under construction and will be ready by February. So, we will have 17,000 beds soon. We have made arrangements for preparing 100 oxygen beds each in every Municipal ward on a two weeks’ notice… 27,000 oxygen beds can be prepared at a short notice.
“There are 32 types of medicines that are used during Corona (treatment),” he said, adding that a buffer stock of two months is being ordered so that there is no shortage of medicines.
“Combining all hospitals in Delhi, we have around 750 MT of oxygen capacity. Extra storage capacity of 442 MT is being prepared. Along with that PSA plants set up-Delhi generates 121 MT of oxygen. We have also ordered the installation of telemetry devices on all oxygen tanks to know availability of oxygen per minute in each,” the Chief Minister added.
