Delhi govt writes to Centre seeking Army help to set up COVID-19 facilities

Delhi government has sought help from the Centre to depute Armed Forces in the national capital to set up and operationalise the Covid19 facilitiesDelhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia made the appeal through a letter written on Sunday to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for lending services of the Armed Forces to set up Covid facilities here in the city with about 10000 oxygenated nonICU beds and 1000 ICU bedsMentioning that Delhi is in the midst of unprecedented Covid surge which has stretched the health infrastructure to the maximum level Sisodia said I shall be grateful if your Ministry could lend the services of our Armed Forces to setup operationalise and run some Covid health facilities with about 10000 oxygenated NonICU beds and 1000 ICU bedsSince the entire health infrastructure machinery is overwhelmed with the management of the existing hospitals and the upcoming Covid hospitals or care centres it will be timely help to the people of Delhi if the Ministry of Defence with the considerable resources at its commands is tasked with the responsibility to provide and man the additional Covid health facilities as per the current projectionsThe Deputy CM also requested the Ministry of Defence to make arrangements for supply of medical oxygen for the Covid health facility to be set up Sisodia sought the help noting Indian Army has always stood at the forefront during every time of crisis helped and protected the citizens of his great nationConsidering the enormous number of cases Sisodia said the additional health infrastructure being set up by the Delhi government is likely to be filled up as soon as it is ready and we need at least 10000 oxygenated nonICU beds and 1000 ICU beds at the earliest to overcome this crisisThe Deputy CM also informed that Delhi at present has 16272 nonICU oxygen beds and 4866 ICU beds and that the Delhi government is creating an additional 15000 oxygenated nonICU beds and 1200 ICU beds which are likely to be operationalised over the next ten daysIn the letter Sisodia further said The other requirement at the moment of crisis is the regular supply of medical oxygenThe government of India allocates medical oxygen to the various states and Delhi is grateful to the efforts of the Centre in augmenting the supply of medical oxygen said Sisodia adding from the initial allocation of 378 MT per day government of India has increased the allocation to 490 MT on April 24 and thereafter to 590 MTThe additional allocation to Delhi has been made from the plants located more than 1500 km from Delhi like Durgapur Rourkela and Kalinga Nagar Delhi government with necessary help from the government of India and other state governments is augmenting the transport infrastructure by sourcing cryogenic tankers even from abroad Sisodia saidIt would be an extraordinary help from our Armed Forces if the Ministry of Defence can provide cryogenic tankers for transport of Liquid Medical OxygenSisodia also informed that the Delhi government has deployed all available medical professionals in manning the Covid hospitals and Covid care centres and it is also in process of recruiting retired doctors and para medical teamsStill the Aam Aadmi Party leader said the availability is extremely limited considering the huge demand The Ministry of Defence may also kindly provide medical and para medical teams to supplement the medical manpower of DelhiAt the end of the letter Sisodia mentioned that the requirements may be considered on humanitarian grounds in this hour of unprecedented health crisis noting the operational details can be mutually worked out after receipt of in principle approval from the Defence MinistryOn an average there have been 25000 new Covid cases in Delhi every day and about 10 per cent of them require some form of hospitalisation including oxygen supportThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever