As Delhi struggled with a lack of oxygen, the Supreme Court composed of Judges DY Chandrachud and MR Shah on Thursday ordered the center to deliver 700 MT to the national capital as requested by the Delhi government. Judge Chandrachud noted that the centre’s formula for Delhi, “a gross underestimation of what Delhi requires,” pulled the center up over a pan-Indian oxygenation. The center has warned that other states will attend the SC’s Suo-Moto hearing on COVID issues such as vaccination, oxygen starvation, COVID testing for mutant strains, shortages of medical staff, etc.
Middle: ‘You have to deliver 700 MT’
The center, represented by SG Tushar Mehta, said 730.7 MT were received in Delhi on Wednesday, including some imports. He added that all major hospitals that use Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) are covered by the center’s investigation and have adequate inventory levels. Saying that more oxygen was arriving in Delhi via Oxygen Express trains from Dhaka, Durgapur and Tughlakabad, Mehta warned that an instruction to the center to deliver 700 MT could lead to negative consequences in other states that are beyond capacity go out of the center.
When asked by the center whether a buffer supply of oxygen was available, SC said, “What your formula shows for Delhi may indeed be a gross underestimation of what Delhi needs. Not everyone in need of oxygen may be in the hospital, they may be at home. We need to look at the oxygen audit and we need to reevaluate the basis for the oxygen allocation. We know other states need it too. “The top court also asked if the center was prepared for COVID wave 3, noting that it needs to prepare now as the third wave could affect children Centers have estimated that the third wave will arrive in October 2021.
Against the center’s claims, the Delhi government said that Delhi’s supply had not hit 300 on Thursday morning 9 a.m., it will in no way be close to 500 or 700. He claimed that the center is trying to wriggle out of the supply of 700 MT oxygen to Delhi. The center has listed 58 hospitals in Delhi with a storage capacity of 480 MT and claims that most of the hospitals that perform oxygen SOS were not COVID hospitals.
SC adopts Suo Moto knowledge
In the midst of at least five high courts (Delhi, Allahabad, Bombay, Madras, Karnataka) hearing matters related to oxygen supply, remdesivir shortages, bed shortages, vaccinations, SC issued notifications to the center, states and parties referring to the HCs have turned to show why the Supreme Court cannot make uniform orders for the supply of oxygen, essential medicines, the method and type of vaccination and an explanation of the ban. The bank, made up of what was then CJI SA Bobde, Judges L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat, called on the Union government to come up with a national plan for handling basic services and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Later on Sunday, the SC ordered that the central government, in cooperation with states, provide a buffer supply of oxygen for emergency purposes and decentralize the location of the emergency supplies.
