Oxygen crises across the country deepened on April 21 as several private hospitals pleaded with the state & the central governments to immediately replenish their supplies to avert a tragedy. Top private hospitals in Delhi like Max, Fortis, Apollo & Sir Ganga Ram reached out to the Delhi government regarding depleting oxygen supply. With over 300 Covid-19 patients admitted, St. Stephen’s Hospital was the first to ring the alarm on April 21. Hospitals in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow have pasted notices outside their premises & requested people to shift serious patients to other hospitals for treatment as they are running out of oxygen. A private hospital, Mayo Medical Centre, has pasted a notice, which reads, “We are requesting the family members of those patients who are on oxygen support please take their patients to higher centres for further management”. In Delhi, at 4.15 pm, Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital was left with only five hours of oxygen supply. Max Hospital in Delhi also wrote to Health Minister Satyendra Jain on shortage of oxygen supply. Rathi Hospital in Delhi also raised the alarm informing that the hospital has no oxygen supply & helpline numbers not taking calls. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia again requested the centre to increase the national capital’s oxygen supply. Delhi's desperate oxygen crisis resonated in the High Court on April 21, with the judges skewering the Centre with harsh questions, demanding why it was "not waking up to reality".
