MARGAO
Officials of the South Goa district hospital have said the medical oxygen leakage has in no way hampered the oxygen supply to the 500-odd patients undergoing treatment in the hospital.
While saying that the leakage caused a loss of oxygen when it is in short supply, officials said the district hospital liquid oxygen tank is now full to the brim and enough to take care of the requirement of the patients for the next 24 hours.
District hospital Nodal Officer, Dr Rajesh Patil, told The Goan that the incident of oxygen leakage did not affect the patients in the hospital nor will it in any way have a bearing on the supply of liquid oxygen to the district hospital.
“After the unfortunate incident resulted in loss of oxygen which was procured from Kolhapur, another tanker came to the district hospital soon after the incident and filled up the tank with liquid oxygen. I want to make clear that the incident did not affect the patients undergoing treatment in the hospital and it will not have any effect on them for the next 24 hours,” Dr Patil said.
The hospital uses both oxygen trolleys as well as liquid oxygen to provide oxygen to the 500-odd patients at any point of time. While the hospital requires around 16 trolleys of oxygen, which is procured from Verna, the liquid oxygen is being obtained from Kolhapur or Bellary by tankers hired by the administration.
Dr Patil said the district hospital has a 5700-litre capacity liquid oxygen tank, with a well-laid system to provide oxygen to the patients.
“We make it sure that the tank is filled to the brim and that minimum of 5000 litres of oxygen is available in the tank at any given time. While the hospital uses around 16 trolleys of oxygen, which is procured from Verna, we also use the liquid oxygen filled up in the tank,” he said.
The Goan understands that the district administration led by District Collector, Ruchika Katyal, IAS, has designated two deputy collectors, Sub-divisional Magistrate Jyoti Kumari, IAS, and deputy collector John Fernandes to make sure that the district hospital gets the oxygen from Verna and Kolhapur respectively.
Jyoti Kumari has put a system in place where police escort the vehicles bringing oxygen trolleys to the hospital from Verna.
Similarly, deputy collector John Fernandes has been entrusted with the task to ensure that the tanker in question goes to Kolhapur or Bellary and procures liquid oxygen.
