Delhi Needs To Be Ready For A Third Wave Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: IIT Delhi
Adding to the distress and fear already present, IIT Delhi declared that the capital needs to be prepared for almost 45,000 cases of Covid-19 every single day. Adding to this, the report mentioned that 9,000 patients would need hospitalization, resulting in panic due to this crisis which is going to hit the capital hard whilst everyone is already anxious.
A bench of Justices – Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh requested the government to file a chart within a month so that they could be on the same page of implementation based on the recommendations. The court has taken the matter very seriously and identified one of the findings as crucial that oxygen generation units could be set up by the government apart from decentralized plants.
The report warning this further big hurdle is titled – “IITD Review and Recommendations for Management of Oxygen during the Covid-19 crisis for GNCTD”. The findings were brought to light by professor Sanjay Dhir from IIT-Delhi at the hearing. Most of the liquid medical oxygen was allocated to 51 big hospitals, as voiced by Dhir to the High Court.
The report also portrayed concerns over how increasing the number of re-fillers for oxygen should be done alongside a consideration of setting up a local refilling station. There are certain challenges to this, the first being – refilling capacity evaluation, secondly, shortage of cryogenic oxygen tankers and thirdly an oxygen audit which could all be overcome by following the recommendations such as – Increasing the capacity from 1,000 cylinders per day to 2,000 cylinders per day. A procurement of 20 to 25 cryptogenic oxygen tankers with a capacity of 20 to 100 MT of various sizes is needed desperately and there is a certain urgency at this juncture, of oxygen audits to be done which will ensure efficient usage.
A robust system and process must be prepared for the scenario that is coming up in the near future. The government has to engage in the processes of tackling increase in demand of medical oxygen and there have to be careful that there are no delays or disruptions in the much needed and provided supply by the manufacturers.
On a conclusive note we can only hope for the best but whilst people are living in fear, losing loved ones to this deadly pandemic, we must all be empathetic. Unity must be achieved in tackling this deadly virus and the third wave as warned by IIT Delhi will need everyone cooperating and doing their best. The government needs to be fully aware of this approaching third wave and they need to be prepared. We, as in the common people, have to take all precautions and be prepared for a huge shift in the healthcare infrastructure, especially in the capital. This has to be looked after by the government.
