New Delhi:Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal on Monday visited the oxygen depot in Mayapuri today, which has been prepared to store the consignment of the oxygen cylinders received from China. Around 6000 oxygen cylinders have been airlifted from China, out of which 4400 have been received and 1600 will be received within 2-3 days, and will be stored in three oxygen depots which will be prepared by the Delhi government. He said that these cylinders can be given to the individuals in need and if another wave emerges and the cases rise again then with these 6000 cylinders, the Delhi government can prepare 3000 oxygen beds, as two cylinders are needed on each oxygen bed. He also said that the Delhi government has spoken to Pfizer, Moderna for vaccines, and both the companies have refused to sell vaccines directly and will deal with the Government of India alone. He appealed to the Centre to import vaccines and distribute them to the States.
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “Now the cases are reducing significantly. For the country, this is the second wave but for Delhi, this is the fourth wave, and this time, in the last week of April around 28,000 cases were recorded but now they have come down to 1500. The infection rate had also reached 36% in the last week of April, coming down to around 2.5 %. It seems that this wave is subsiding but there has been no laxity in the efforts by the Delhi Government. We have already started preparing for the next, what is being called the Third wave."
He said, “As you can see there are many cylinders behind me. These are around 6,000 cylinders; we have imported these from China and 4400 have been received. 1600 cylinders will be received within 2-3 days. We are preparing depots of 2000 cylinders each in three places with these 6000 cylinders. These cylinders can be given to the individuals in need and if another wave emerges and the cases rise again then with these 6000 cylinders, we can prepare 3000 oxygen beds, as two cylinders are needed on each oxygen bed. So, this way there is no laxity in the preparations being made by the government."
Shri Kejriwal added, “We faced a lot of challenges in importing these 6000 cylinders from China as I understand that no such big consignment has been imported in India, during this period of the Coronavirus. Both HCL and Give India Foundation have donated for this and we are very grateful that they have done so much for the people of the country during the pandemic. For this, I would like to especially thank the Indian embassy in Beijing. They have helped us a lot. The Ministry of External Affairs has also helped us a lot, if they had not helped then we do not know whether we would have been able to bring the consignment or not, we also want to thank them. Apart from this, we are buying oxygen concentrators on a big scale. Many have been bought already. As you know Oxygen Concentrator Banks have been installed across the various districts. Whosoever needs oxygen concentrators, they are provided so. We are also going to buy Oxygen tanks and are creating Oxygen storage space. Whatever problems we face during this wave are now being resolved.”
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “We can give Oxygen concentrators to those who are in home isolation, just like the way we are giving concentrators. Right now, we are giving concentrators of 5 liters. We are buying 5000 concentrators of 10 liters. These work till about 25 liters. But if you are taking 25 liters of oxygen then it is better that you admit yourself to the hospital. If the hospitals need it then the hospitals will be given. If the need is that we have to create new beds in the GTB Hospital or the LNJP Hospital, like the facilities in Burari and Chhatarpur, there we have to create new oxygen beds."
He said, “We have talked to people from Pfizer, they say that they will communicate with the Centre directly, we talked to Moderna, they said that they will not talk to us but to the Centre directly. It is my earnest request to the Central government that our country has lost a lot of time already, it has been a long time that we should not waste anymore. Now there are a lot of vaccines in the International market – there is Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer, and many more. The central government should talk to them and import and distribute among the states."
He added “Since there are no vaccines, what is the point of making booths for vaccinating the young children? Once vaccines arrive, we can make the booths. I myself wrote a letter that if 8 lakh is the quota for vaccines then Delhi will need 30 months to vaccinate all the people. Vaccines are needed and for them, I think just like the foreign companies, we talked to Moderna and within 2-3 days our conversations concluded, we talked to Pfizer and talks concluded within 2-3 days, so why can’t this be the case that the Central Government calls, invites and talks to these companies and I think within 3-4 days deals and agreements can be made with all the companies. Why is the work not being done with urgency? Similarly, Bharat Biotech which is manufacturing Covaxin, I am extremely happy that Bharat Biotech is willing to share its formula with everyone. A national newspaper reported that 16 such companies can make Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Out of them, Bharat Biotech has struck a deal with only 2 of these companies. So, the Central Government should call, invite and talk to all these 16 companies and formally order and not request them that these 16 companies will start their production within the next few days."
He said, “According to that report, if the 16 companies start their production, then 25 crore vaccines can be manufactured every month, then why are we not making these? What we have witnessed in the cases of the UK and USA, there are less than 18,000 cases in the USA, that experience shows that the vaccine is the only thing that is the solution for this. The Covaxin is over but Covishield is left for a few days. For black fungus, we have made our centers. Right now, while coming I was taking the report that in LNJP, Rajiv Gandhi, and GTB Hospitals we have made the centers but there is no medicine. We did not receive the medicine yesterday, so how can we treat the patients without the medicine? The injection is administered 4 to 5 times a day, if we are not given the injection then how can we treat the patient? Suddenly this illness has emerged and there is a shortage of its medicine in the market, so the Central Government is distributing all the medicines it has in all the states. There is an extreme shortage of medicine, its production also has to be increased. Since 4-5 injections need to be administered daily and there are around 500 patients so we need 2000 injections daily but we are receiving only 400-500 injections. The cases of Black Fungus are around 500."
