Delhi government on Tuesday said that it has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok and 21 oxygen plants from France to help tide over the current shortage of oxygen in the capital during the ongoing fourth wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Delhi government has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok, they will start arriving from tomorrow. We have requested the Centre to allow use of Air Force planes for this. Talks are on, I am very hopeful the talks will be successful. This will resolve the issue of transport “, said Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi chief Minister, at a digital press conference.
As regards oxygen plants from France, Kejriwal said that Delhi government was importing 21 ready to use oxygen plants from France so that they can be brought in and used immediately. “This will be installed at different hospitals and this will help us in resolving oxygen crisis in those hospitals”, he said.
This decision to import was taken as Delhi is still facing problems in receiving the oxygen that has been allotted by the Centre.
“In the next month, we will have 44 oxygen plants in Delhi, out of which 8 plants will be set up by the Centre by April 30. The remaining 36 will be installed by the Delhi government and this would include the 21 that is coming from France”, Kejriwal said.
The Delhi CM also said that he had in the past three days received tremendous support from various industrialists and state governments to whom he had written letters and requested help on oxygen supplies. “We are thankful to everyone who is helping the Delhi government during this time of crisis”, Kejriwal said.
He also highlighted that the Centre had on Tuesday morning handed over five oxygen tankers to Delhi to help meet its transportation requirements for medical oxygen.
Kejriwal noted that the past three days has been extremely tough in Delhi’s ongoing fight against the corona pandemic .
The Delhi CM also announced that as many as 1,200 additional ICU beds will be set up in the capital by May 10.