Oxygen cylinders are portable and cost Rs 6,000 (refills Rs 200), or up to Rs 3,000 per month on rent
With over 11,000 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours - and nearly 20,000 in the 48 hours prior - Delhi is now third on the list of states reporting the most number of new cases every day. The city also reported 72 Covid-linked deaths on Monday - the most in a day since December 5 -
Concurrent with that spike is a three-fold increase in demand for oxygen cylinders and concentrators among the 17,000 people in home isolation across the national capital.
On Monday night a Delhi government worried by this surge said pulse oximeters (to measure blood oxygen levels) had to be given to each family reporting a positive Covid case.
These families, the government said, must check saturation levels at regular intervals and inform a hospital if the number drops below 94 per cent.
Normal oxygen saturation levels are between 95 and 99 per cent. For people who develop severe Covid symptoms and consequently suffer from respiratory issues, this figure can plummet, causing severe distress and, if left untreated, organ damage and death.
At Monday's review meeting Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev also directed the creation of a 24x7 cell at 11 state-run hospitals. These will identify neighbourhoods reporting high numbers of late admissions or deaths, and monitor deaths per hospital compared to the number of admissions.
Across Delhi as people find themselves in need of oxygen cylinders and such equipment, suppliers are flooded with calls and are scrambling to find more stock to meet the increased demand.
"From sending out one or two concentrators per week we are now supplying 28-30 in a day. Demand is very high. People are also scared and want to keep it as a backup. Most of our products are already out so we are now buying more concentrators and cylinders," Shalini Bakliwal, who runs Kewal Care - a company that supplies medical equipment - said.
Even Resident Welfare Associations - like the one in South Delhi's Greater Kailash I - have come forward to help. The oxygen cylinders and concentrators they hired in June last year were sent back in January after cases came down. Yesterday the equipment was re-hired.
"There has been an exponential growth in cases in the past few days. This time it is worse... Last year we gave concentrators or cylinders to 23 residents. At least four of them survived for three days because of the equipment... until there was a hospital bed. It was critical," Rajeev Kakria, a member of the association, told NDTV.
"This time we have 18 patients in the locality... people are relieved that even if they need it (oxygen cylinders) at 2 am or 3 am they can get it," he said, adding that the RWA does not charge money for this service, and that cost is borne via existing funds.
An oxygen concentrator costs between Rs 35,000 and Rs 60,000. It can be rented for between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000 per month. They run on electricity, and need to be plugged in at all times.
Oxygen cylinders are portable and cost Rs 6,000; a refill costs Rs 200. These too are available on rent - between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 per month.
Experts say Delhi's Covid graph is uncomfortably similar to Mumbai's, where oxygen cylinders are in such short supply that the state is forced to ask its neighbours for help.
"The number of severe cases are constantly increasing and a lot of patients face symptoms of breathlessness. If cases continue to rise like this we will see a situation like Mumbai, and the Delhi government may be compelled to take equally harsh measures," Dr Vikas Maurya, the Head of Pulmonology at Fortis Hospital in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, told NDTV.
"It becomes all the more important now for all of us to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour at all times," he stressed, underlining what many, including the central government, feel is the key reason for this deadly spike - that people no longer wear masks or practice social distancing in public.
Earlier on Monday Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said he had asked the centre to allot at least 3,000 additional beds in hospitals it runs in the city. Currently only 1,000 of these beds are available for Covid patients, whereas, back in November the centre had set aside 4,000.
Also on Monday the Delhi government issued orders setting aside 14 large private hospitals and six Delhi government hospitals as 100 per cent Covid treatment facilities.