"Bitter experience has left a lesson to be learnt:" Delhi High Court orders hospitals to set up their own Oxygen plants

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that it was high time that all the hospitals and nursing homes in the national capital set up their own plants to meet their oxygen requirements..A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh opined that the acute shortage of oxygen faced by hospitals in the national capital amid COVID-19 surge has taught everyone a bitter lesson. "The bitter experience that everyone in NCT of Delhi has had with acute shortage of medical oxygen has certainly left a lesson to be learnt, particularly by the hospitals," the Court said..The Court stated that while large hospitals having 100 beds and more should set up oxygen plants producing at least 2 times their requirements, hospitals and nursing homes having 50-100 beds should set up an oxygen plant to meet their normal requirements.."We are of the view the large hospitals and nursing homes having more than 100 beds should install PSA plants having twice the capacity of normal requirements. Smaller nursing homes and hospitals having at least 50 beds and not more than 100 beds should install PSA plants/refilling to meet their normal requirements," the Court recorded. .The Court added that these directions should be complied with by all the hospitals including that of the Delhi government, Central government or municipal corporations as well as new hospitals that are being set up. .The Court said that such installation would go a long way in reducing dependence on outside sources in times of crisis. .It also directed that a meeting be convened between the Principal Secretary, Health, Delhi government and the stakeholders on this aspect. .The Court also asked the DDA and municipal corporations to consider the issue of altering the land-use pattern for the hospitals for the purpose of setting up oxygen plants.