Private hospitals of Kasaragod left gasping for oxygen

Express News Service
KASARAGOD:  Oxygen disaster has hit Kasaragod and personal hospitals treating COVID sufferers are operating round for cylinders. Private hospitals stated their sufferers are surviving on an hour-to-hour foundation with zero buffer inventory.

On Sunday, Kasaragod Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) — which has the very best consumption of Covid sufferers amongst personal hospitals — needed to ship a car to the Balco Air Product unit in Kannur to get 20 D cylinders. The hospital’s each day want is 45 D cylinders, every with a  capability of seven,600 litres of liquid oxygen.

Late within the evening, the hospital despatched one other car to get the life-saving oxygen to the unit, 80km away. “There was a long queue when we reached the plant at 12.30 am,” stated A V Krishnan, supervisor of KIMS. “By the time the vehicle returned to the hospital at 5.40 am, we just had oxygen left for 10 more minutes,” he stated Monday morning. It was touch-and-go for 9 sufferers on oxygen help.

The unlucky half was, he stated, the hospital bought solely 20 cylinders. “So we will be on the edge today also. There should be a solution,” stated Krishan. The each day oxygen requirement for KIMS has risen to 45 cylinders from 20 cylinders, he stated. 

Across the district, personal hospitals want round 110 cylinders and authorities hospitals want round 160 cylinders day-after-day, stated officers of the Health Department. In the pre-COVID days, the district wanted round 250 cylinders simply as soon as in two weeks, they stated.

The Balco unit is stretched as it’s catering to the elevated demand from Kozhikode and Kannur district. The disaster in Kasaragod is aggravated by the scarcity of oxygen in Dakshina Kannada — Kasaragod’s neighbouring district in Karnataka. 

Dakshina Kannada’s high administrative officer Ok V Rajendra stated medical oxygen might be provided to hospitals in Kasaragod provided that the request is authorised by his counterpart collector D Sajith Babu.

Binoy Nambiar, the oxygen nodal officer for Dakshina Kannada, stated the restriction was required to forestall the diversion of oxygen to industries. 

In the pre-COVID days, 70% of oxygen provided to Kasaragod from the 2 filling stations at Baikampady in Mangaluru had been used for industries. “Now we don’t have oxygen for industrial use,” Nambiar stated.

The nodal officer stated Dakshina Kannada can be going through a scarcity of medical oxygen as a result of Inox Air Products, a non-public plant at Kanjikode in Palakkad, stopped supplying oxygen to Dakshina Kannada two weeks in the past. Inox used to provide 10,000 litres of liquid oxygen to Mangaluru day-after-day.

Dakshina Kannada — with six medical schools — wants round 25,000 litres of liquid oxygen each day. “We get oxygen now from a unit in Bellary but there is a shortage of 1,200 litres daily,” stated Nambiar.He, nonetheless, stated Kasaragod hospitals would get oxygen in the event that they got here with the collector’s letter.

But the bottom actuality is completely different. MLAs N A Nellikkunnu, C H Kunhambu, and A Ok M Ashraf wrote to Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner to not cease medical oxygen to hospitals in Kasaragod. 

Collector Sajith Babu wrote to his counterpart asking for oxygen for 9 hospitals in Kasaragod.  In his letter, he stated KIMS Hospital would require 45 D cylinders, up from 20 D cylinders; Malik Deena Hospital will want 40 D cylinders, up from 20, and Mangalpady Taluk Hospital will want 5 B cylinders, up from two cylinders.

The demand for the opposite six hospitals — Chaitra Hospital, United Hospital, Mallya City Hospital, Doctors Hospital Kumbla, Udma Nursing Home, and Cooperative Hospital — stays 1D cylinder every.

Despite the letter of authorisation, the hospitals will not be getting cylinders from Mangaluru just because there isn’t a oxygen on the refilling stations. Malabar Oxygen Company Private Limited at Baikampady within the northern a part of Mangaluru reportedly advised KIMS it didn’t have oxygen to provide to Kasaragod.

Private hospitals in Kasaragod stated they’re now solely depending on BALCO at Taliparamba. “But the unit was shut till 3.30 pm on Sunday for some repair work,” stated Krishnan, the supervisor of KIMS.

According to the state authorities’s rule, personal hospitals ought to put aside 10% of their beds for Covid sufferers. But KIMS and Carewell, one other personal hospital, have extra sufferers than the government-mandated numbers.Private hospitals stated they might not be capable of admit Covid sufferers in the event that they weren’t assured of medical oxygen provide. “Because the condition of Covid patients can slip any time,” he stated.