Kadapa: Faced with shortage of oxygen supply, government as well as private hospitals are denying admission to patients arriving with breathlessness issues and gasping for the life-saving gas.
Though the district administration is striving to create more beds should there be a need, arranging adequate oxygen supply to the need has become a gruelling task for officials.
As against the requirements of around 26 kiloliters of oxygen, the district is allotted only 20 kiloliters by the state government. Even the fully allotted quota is not being fulfilled as the two agencies engaged to supply oxygen are hardly supplying 17.5 kiloliters a day. They are hard-pressed to cater to the demands of not only the four major government Covid hospitals in the district but also 17 private hospitals treating corona patients.
Oxygen is supplied to the district from Bellary. Liquid oxygen is sent to District Central Hospital (RIMS), Kadapa, District Hospital at Proddatur, Corona Hospital at Fatima Medical College in Kadapa, and Area Hospital at Pulivendula. These agencies convert some liquid oxygen into gas at their own plants and supply to all private hospitals through cylinders.
The shortage of oxygen meant that even the four major corona hospitals in the district are not providing all the beds to patients due to inadequate supply of oxygen. For instance, RIMs in Kadapa has a capacity of 700 beds but uses only 400 beds. Only 120 patients are admitted as against 150 beds at Proddatur Hospital. The medical college can serve only 100 patients though it has 250 beds for want of oxygen.
Authorities say they are helpless in denying admissions as they need to provide full medical care to the admitted patients.
District Collector Chevuru Harikiran said he had written a letter to the government, requesting 25 kiloliters of oxygen a day. He said if the number of patients increased further, the need for oxygen would also increase drastically and all these issues were discussed with the higher authorities. He hoped that the oxygen supply to the district would increase soon.
