News Analysis India

Tag: Oxygen Cylinder

  • Assistant Professor at SKM university brings oxygen and lots of hope for Ranchi’s elderly

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: Dr Ashok NaG, Assistant Professor of Botany at SKM University, has been helping the elderly Covid patients having oxygen deficiency by getting their cylinders refilled. He takes empty cylinders from them and brings the refilled ones free of cost.

    Nag says he realised the gravity of the situation when a friend called him from Bangaluru, requesting him to arrange medical oxygen for his father. Nag did it promptly, but the incident left him thinking about how the elderly, especially those who don’t have their loved ones at home, have been coping with such problems.

    “I started posting on social media that anyone facing problems in the oxygen refill could call me or drop a message on my mobile to get free service. I asked them to inbox me their address, along with their Covid report and Aadhaar number to avoid fake calls,” said Dr Nag. He is grateful to his childhood friend Sandeep Sen who helped him in realizing the problems of the elderly people put under home isolation due to shortage of hospital beds.

    “The entire service, right from lifting and dropping of oxygen cylinders, is being provided free of cost. After receiving a call, I go there on my own, take the cylinder, get it refilled from the refilling station located in Ormanjhi and drop it to the doorstep of the patient concerned.” Nag started his volunteer service about a fortnight back and has already served more than 150 people.

    “On an average I receive nearly 50 distress calls every day, which also include other Covid-related queries such as availability of beds in hospitals or places where one can get oxygen cylinders,” Nag said. Most such people are the elderly who have been in home isolation and have no one to look after them,” he said.There are also those living far away while their parents are in Ranchi. Some of his students have come forward to volunteer, but “there are risks, so I politely ask them to take care of themselves,” he says. Nag takes all precautions such as double-mask protection, hand-gloves and a face shield. 

  • Oxygen leaks at Maharashtra hospital, staff saves 14 patients 

    By PTI
    AURANGABAD: A quick intervention by staff saved the lives of 14 patients on oxygen support in the Parbhani district hospital in Maharashtra as the pipeline supplying the life-saving gas developed a leak after a branch of a tree fell on it, officials said on Wednesday.

    After noticing the leak on late Tuesday night, the staff of the hospital shifted the patients on jumbo oxygen cylinders for breathing, Deputy Collector Sanjay Kundetkar told PTI.

    “Around 11.30 pm, a branch of a tree fell on the pipeline which carries medical oxygen from the storage tank to the casualty and burns ward of the hospital, which caused leakage.

    The fault was detected and simultaneously 14 patients admitted in the casualty section were shifted on jumbo oxygen cylinders for breathing. The supply of oxygen was switched off for repairing the leak,” he said.

    According to Kundetkar, the oxygen supply was interrupted for merely 2-3 minutes.

    He said technicians repaired the pipeline within two hours.

    “No casualty was reported in this incident. The oxygen supply was restored around 4 am,” the deputy collector added.

    On April 21, at least 22 patients died due to the interrupted supply of oxygen at a civic hospital for COVID-19 patients in Nashik following the leakage of the gas from a storage plant.

    ALSO WATCH | Maharashtra lockdown to be extended by 15 days beyond April 30: Rajesh Tope

  • ‘Will give you two slaps’: Union Minister to COVID patient’s son for seeking oxygen cylinder

    By PTI
    DAMOH: A video purportedly showing Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel telling a man who sought oxygen cylinder for his ailing mother that he would get “two slaps” if he spoke rudely went viral on Thursday.

    While the opposition Congress took swipes at him over the incident, the Union minister of state could not be contacted for comment on the video.

    Patel, who is the MP from Damoh, was inspecting the district hospital here two days after oxygen cylinders were looted from the hospital.

    A man approached him saying his mother, a COVID-19 patient, needed oxygen cylinder.

    She was told she will get one after 36 hours, but it was yet to be provided, he said.

    As the man raised a finger at Patel while talking, an irked minister gestured him to lower his finger, and said, “If you spoke in this manner, you will get two slaps. (Aisa Bolega To Do Khayega).”

    The man replied that he was ready to accept the slaps and his mother was already taking the blows.

    “Tell me what to do,” the man was heard saying in the video. Apparently realising that the incident was being recorded, Patel said to the man, “Calm down.

    Is anyone refusing you (the oxygen)? The man replied in a feeble voice that he had indeed been denied oxygen.

    As the video began to circulate, state Congress chief spokesperson K K Mishra tweeted, “Before the by-poll, each virus patient of Damoh was driven to Bhopal or Jabalpur by the cars of MP ministers and admitted to hospitals.

    “Now when a BJP activist was requesting for oxygen to save the life of his mother, Union Minister Prahlad Patel was talking about slapping him twice as the work is accomplished (election is over).”

    The Union minister could not be contacted for reaction.

    District BJP president Pritam Singh Lodhi refused to comment, saying Patel himself should be contacted.

    On Tuesday night, family members of patients admitted at the Damoh district hospital forcibly took away oxygen cylinders.

    The hospital management had to call in police to bring the situation under control.

    No restrictions on movement or gatherings had been imposed in the district which had an Assembly by-election on April 17.

    On April 19, curfew was imposed.

    On Thursday, Damoh reported 167 coronavirus cases, its highest daily rise.

    Madhya Pradesh on Thursday reported 12,384 fresh coronavirus cases, which took its overall count to 4,59,195, the state health department said.

    On Wednesday, the state had reported its highest one- day spike of 13,107 cases.

    As 75 patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, the death toll reached 4,863.

    A total of 4,863 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the count of recoveries in Madhya Pradesh to 3,69,375, the department said.

    With 1,781 new cases, Indore’s caseload went up to 96,330, while that of Bhopal rose to 75,405 with the addition of 1,729 cases.

    Indore reported 10 deaths, taking the toll in the district to 1,079, while the fatality count in Bhopal rose by five to 692, the officials said.

    Indore is now left with 12,738 active cases, while Bhopal has 9,773 such cases.

    There are 84,957 active COVID-19 cases in the state.

    With 50,974 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the number of samples tested so far in the state rose to 72.84 lakh.

    The coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 4,59,195, new cases 12,384, death toll 4,863, recoveries 3,69,375, active cases 84,957, number of tests so far 72,84,554.