While appeals for ICU beds in Delhi have flooded the social media platforms, the RTI has revealed that the Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP government did not purchase a single ventilator between July 2020 and April 2021.
Vivek Pandey, a RTI activist submitted a RTI to know how many ventilators, oxygen cylinders and tanks were purchased between July 2020 to April 2021 by Delhi government. However, according to the data the Directorate of Health Services, Government of Delhi, has not procured even a single ventilator between the said period.
Beyond that, in response to his second query related to purchase of Oxygen cans and cylinder, the data showed that the Delhi Government spent Rs. 4,15,79,908 to procure 4500 units of oxygen cylinders/tanks. However, it further mentioned that all were procured in July 2020 only, which means no further purchase has been made after that.
There are no ICU beds available in most government hospitals and a few private hospitals in the national capital. Although Delhi Corona website claims some beds are available but reality seems far away.
So far, Delhi has reported 11,94,946 cases. 10,85,690 have recovered. There are 92,290 active cases in Delhi, and 16,966 people have lost their lives due to Covid related complications.
