According to the central government sources, eight pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants are to be installed in Delhi from the PM Cares Fund. This will help to enhance the capacity of medical oxygen 14.4 metric tonnes, central government sources said on Sunday.
On March 17, one plant in Burari Hospital, Kaushik Enclave was installed, while four others, one each at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Rohini and Deepa Chand Bandhu Hospital, Ashok Vihar, are expected to be completed by April 30.
The sources claimed that the site readiness of these hospitals was delayed by the Delhi government despite weekly reviews with them since November.
The Delhi government, in a statement, accused the Centre of giving “outrightly false” statements to hide its “abject failure” in setting up of PSA oxygen plants in Delhi.
But the sources alleged, for Ambedkar Nagar Hospital in Dakshinpuri, the site was prepared by as late as April 19 by the Delhi government. However, site readiness certificate of Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital at Narela has not yet been submitted by the Delhi government, they claimed.
The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has highlighted that its hospitals have been short of oxygen availability and have sought the Centre’s intervention. Many hospitals have often sent out SOS for oxygen requirements.
The Delhi Government has termed the allegations as “unfortunate” because it was working closely with the Centre to link the gap in the allocated quota of oxygen for the city
It claimed that the plants in different states were to be set up by the Union health ministry through the PM Cares Fund, and not a single rupee was given to state governments.
Some BJP leaders have accused Kejriwal of playing politics and not doing enough on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government alleged that the central government gave the contract for 140 of these plants to a single vendor, who ran away. However, all these plants were supposed to have been installed by December 2020 and handed over to state governments.
In Delhi, seven of the eight plants were to be setup at Delhi government hospitals, and one at the central government’s Safdarjung hospital.
“The plants for five hospitals were delivered in early March 2021. Typically, these plants take 3-4 days for installation. However, the vendor was non-responsive and after multiple follow-ups with the Centre, only one of the five plants has been made operational till date,” the Delhi government claimed.
The allegation of site certificate not being available from the Delhi government as a reason for delay in plants is an “outright lie”, it said.
The fact that the PSA plant has not been made operational at even the Centre’s own Safdarjung hospital shows that it is caught in the web of its own lies, the Delhi government stated.