Delhi Seeks Army’s Help to Tide over Covid-19 Induced Crisis

The Delhi Government on Monday sought the Army’s help in managing the Covid-19 crisis as the city continues to grapple with rising cases and unavailability of beds and oxygen.

Delhi, which reported record daily deaths at more than 400 this weekend, wants the Army to run medical care with oxygen facilities for around 10,000 patients, and a further 1,000 intensive care units.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that with healthcare overwhelmed, it would be a “timely help to the people of Delhi if the Ministry of Defence, with the considerable resources at its command, is tasked with the responsibility to provide and man the additional Covid health facilities”. He also asked for “urgent” help transporting much-needed oxygen.

This isn’t the first time that a state has requested the Army’s help in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier in March 2020, Maharashtra had sought for the Army’s assistance in transportation of essential goods across the state and the construction of emergency medical infrastructure.

At present, the Capital has 16,272 non-ICU oxygen beds and 4,866 ICU beds. An additional 15,000 oxygenated non-ICU beds and 1,200 ICU beds, are being created to be operational in the next 10 days.
But as Delhi is recording over 25,000 new cases every day out of which nearly 10% require hospitalization, the additional health infrastructure is expected to soon run out of capacity.

Earlier, a petition was filed in the Delhi High Court seeking directions for handing over the management of oxygen in the national capital to the Army to ensure uninterrupted supply to Covid-19 hospitals and facilities.

“The issue of oxygen supply and distribution needs to be handed over to the Armed forces. Nobody else is able to handle it. It is just not happening,” an advocate told the Delhi HC.

The matter of deployment of the Army in Delhi is currently being looked into by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. India has already ordered its army to send its oxygen from army reserves to the hospital while retired military medical personnel have been called up to help.

Meanwhile, even the Delhi Army Base Hospital is running out of oxygen. The Hospital in Delhi Cantt has sent an SOS to the Defence Ministry saying it is running short on oxygen and all its 650 beds are occupied currently. 200 Army personnel are getting infected daily.