Apollo Hospital MD seeks ambulance status for oxygen trucks

April 22, 2021 16:43

Amid hospitals crammed with patients crying out for oxygen supplies, India's largest hospital chain on Thursday asked the government to tag oxygen tanks as ambulances and enable quick green corridor movement across states.

As India recorded the world's highest daily tally of 3,14,835 new COVID-19 infections, hospitals in the national capital and other major cities complained of "dangerously low" levels of oxygen that is needed for critically ill patients. The situation has been made worse by states that house oxygen manufacturing units restricting inter-state supplies.

Apollo Hospitals Group Joint Managing Director Sangita Reddy, which has hospitals in the national capital as well as adjoining Noida, tweeted on Thursday morning about an oxygen tanker being stopped by Haryana police from entering a refilling plant at Panipat.

Her tweet, which tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top ministers as well as the health ministry, seemed to have worked and the tanker was allowed inside.

"As I tweet, an oxygen tanker is outside the gate of Air Liquide Panipat plant at IOCL and he is not being allowed inside Haryana Police are stopping it and not letting the oxygen out of Haryana. Need urgent intervention," she tweeted, tagging Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Railway and Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Haryana Chief Minister and Union Health Ministry. Minutes later, she updated saying the tanker has been allowed inside.

"Update: The driver has just been allowed inside and hopefully the oxygen will be sent out soon," she tweeted this time tagging just Modi, Goyal and Singh. She went on to demand a quick corridor for movement of oxygen trucks. "Further to my earlier tweet an appeal once again to the government to please tag oxygen tanks as ambulances and enable quick green corridor movement," she tweeted.

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