Supreme Court lauds Mumbai's oxygen management

The observations were made during the hearing and in the order of the top court which stayed contempt proceedings initiated by the Delhi High Court against central government officials for non-compliance of direction to supply 700 MT of oxygen for COVID patients to Delhi.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Wednesday lauded the efforts of Maharashtra authorities in ensuring oxygen supply to COVID patients in Mumbai and asked the Centre and the Delhi government to talk with the civic body officials of that city to learn about augmenting and managing the supply.

The observations were made during the hearing and in the order of the top court which stayed contempt proceedings initiated by the Delhi High Court against central government officials for non-compliance of direction to supply 700 MT of oxygen for COVID patients to Delhi.

A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that Mumbai managed with 275 MT of oxygen even when the active cases had crossed 92,000.

"I do applaud the Mumbai model. It is not a political model. As an officer of the court, not for Centre or state, we need to find a solution. People cannot run from pillar to post. This is not to undermine the efforts of Delhi," the law officer said.

There is a wealth of information coming in every day. Bombay Municipal Corporation is doing some great work, with no disrespect to Delhi. What they are doing, how they are managing. We can learn from them. I also understand that Maharashtra also produces oxygen which Delhi cannot do," said the bench, which also comprised Justice M R Shah.

The bench asked the Chief Secretary and Principle Health Secretaries of Delhi Government and the officials of Central Government to have a discussion with the Commissioner of Mumbai's civic body on their model of augmenting oxygen supply.

"If this can be done in Mumbai, which is an incredibly congested city, then it can be done in Delhi as well, it said while asking officials of Delhi and Central governments to talk to Mumbai's officials concerned on creation of storage tanks and buffer storage .

The apex court conducted urgent hearing on the Centre's plea against the high court show-cause notice on contempt and an order seeking personal appearance of its two senior officials for failing to comply with the directions to ensure supply of 700 liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to Delhi.

Arranging Liquid Oxygen Tanks

Mumbai has seen a requirement of 235 metric tonnes of oxygen every day. Last year, the Municipality had installed liquid oxygen tanks in several hospitals and Covid centers instead of dura cylinders to avoid a shortage of oxygen.

One tank supplies oxygen for almost four days. When the number of patients is high, the tank has to be filled once in two days. For this, the corporation has appointed two contractors. Even if there is a shortage of oxygen at one hospital then the other hospital with surplus oxygen helps to curb the shortage and hence there is a relatively low overall lack of oxygen in Mumbai.

6 Nodal officers, appointed to ensure timely supply of oxygen:

To avoid oxygen deficiency, the Municipality has appointed 6 nodal officers and to ensure timely delivery of oxygen to the places where it is necessary. Data of all hospitals in Mumbai is recorded on Google Sheets. As a result, they know in advance where and when, they need to supply oxygen.

Hospitals that need oxygen notify their suppliers 24 hours prior. If the supplier does not supply oxygen, the Municipality is informed 16 hours in advance. Oxygen producers and suppliers have also started working on ‘mission mode’ along with the administrative machinery. Iqbal Singh Chahal, Municipal Commissioner has instructed all the officers that it is the responsibility of all to ensure that no inconvenient incident occurs due to lack of oxygen.

12 Locations equipped with ‘new oxygen plants’:

The arrangements are in the concluding stages to set up an oxygen plant to curb the oxygen shortage, 12 locations in Mumbai have been allotted for this, including some hospitals and the Corona Jumbo Center. In the next one month, oxygen plant projects will be set up in all 12 locations and the supply of oxygen will be uninterrupted.

When an oxygen plant project is set up in a jumbo center or hospital, there will be 2,000 to 5,000 cubic meters of oxygen available in an hour. It will have the capacity to supply it to 25 to 30 patients at once.

In few other places, oxygen plant projects have been set up in such a way that the hospitals there will have no issue in getting oxygen properly. The cost of the oxygen project, which is currently being set up at the ‘Trauma Care Hospital’, was around Rs 2.5 crore, said P.S. Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner.