Five-member panel formed to monitor procurement, distribution of medical oxygen in Gurgaon

Team to ensure “equitable distribution as per requirement” and also post an officer each at points of distribution.

With several hospitals in Gurgaon reporting a shortage of oxygen over the last few days even as Covid cases in the district continue to surge, a five-member committee has been formed to assess the demand of medical oxygen and manage its transportation and distribution.

The team, headed by MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, has been formed on the orders of Trilok Chand Gupta, additional chief secretary, Haryana and nodal officer for monitoring Covid-related activities in Gurgaon.

As per orders, the duties of the team will include assessing the requirement of medical oxygen in the district, arranging vehicles for transportation of the allocated quantity “in time” and ensuring a “buffer stock of 10 metric tonnes” is always available to the administration, which can be distributed “in case of emergency”.

In addition, the team will have to ensure “equitable distribution as per requirement” and also post one officer each at the three points of distribution when the oxygen is being prepared for transportation. This is to ensure that the oxygen is distributed as per the team’s direction and the distributors “do not indulge in profiteering”.

“It will be ensured by all the registered hospitals/nursing homes that their data regarding allocated beds of Covid and its occupancy are daily updated on the portal…by 5 pm each day,” states the order, adding that if an establishment fails to update the data, “the team may consider discontinuation/limiting the supply” to it.

In the order, ACS Gupta has also directed that a summary report for each day (defined as 6 am to 6 pm) be sent to him by 10 am daily. It added that activities related to medical oxygen will be monitored daily by Gupta through video conference at 4 pm.

A meeting chaired by MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh was also held Tuesday afternoon to discuss the supply and distribution of oxygen. As per officials, Gurgaon currently receives 35 MT of oxygen per day, of which 20 MT is procured from the company INOX in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, while 15 MT is procured from Air Liquid Company in Panipat.

At the meeting it was decided that while oxygen from Bhiwadi will be transported to Gurgaon daily in the company’s tankers and distributed to hospitals that have their own oxygen tanks, the liquid oxygen from Panipat will be transported by tankers arranged by the administration and be brought to three gas refilling stations in Gurgaon. From these stations, oxygen will be distributed via cylinders to hospitals that do not have oxygen tanks. These stations will also have the facility of personal distribution of oxygen, said officials.

To procure an accurate assessment of the oxygen requirement of different hospitals, the district administration has circulated a Google form to be filled out by all hospitals and nursing homes. The cooperation of the Indian Medical Association and the Nursing Home Association has also been secured in this task.

“The district administration is working day and night to ensure oxygen is supplied in the district in the required quantity. ACS TC Gupta is monitoring this work, and the state government has also deployed a senior IAS officer at the Panipat plant to ensure that tankers are filled properly there and dispatched on time. The tanker carrying the oxygen is tracked from when it leaves the plant until it reaches Gurgaon,” said Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg.

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