BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal was under tremendous pressure after he received frantic calls from six civic hospitals that informed him about depleting oxygen supplies post-midnight. Chahal sent cardiac ambulances to the hospitals and transferred 168 patients to the city’s Jumbo COVID-19 care facility. He told The Indian Express that they were able to save all of these critical patients.
He further added that the evacuation operation that took place between 1 and 5 am helped the BMC gauge the upcoming situation. The very next day, he circulated a protocol on oxygen supplies to all 176 hospitals in the city. Meanwhile, he told the Central government to assign oxygen cylinders from Reliance Industries in Jamnagar instead of Haldi, which would otherwise take 8 days.
On the night of April 17, 24 hours after the evacuation operation, the city, with a population of 12.3 million, was equipped with 125 metric tonnes of oxygen. This was only one of the many proactive steps that Mumbai has taken to cope with the crisis.
Last week, the Supreme Court lauded the methods adopted by Mumbai and even asked municipal corporations of other states, including Delhi to follow a similar model.
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