Delhi High Court is hearing the case on oxygen shortage in the capital's fight against Covid-19.
Adv Sacchin Puri has submitted that nearly 170 oxygen concentrators were seized by the @DelhiPolice yesterday.
Court directs for these 170 oxygen concentrators to be released in terms of its order from yesterday.
Court resumes hearing.
Court: Activities of black marketing and hoarding shouldn't happen.
An oxygen supplier appears before the bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli that is hearing the matter.

Court: We can't make money on others desperation at this time. We must show empathy and concern and bring out our best.
Court: Hoarding of medicines, oxygen will lead to an artifical scarcity.
Court: Today we have asked the liquid oxygen suppliers to remain present, as again we came to know that they are not supplying.
Court: We will listen to the matter, and other matters that have come from DB-1, at 2.30 pm.
Court resumes hearing. Court asks some persons to exit from the hearing as Justice Rekha Palli is unable to join due to the upper bar on number of persons allowed to attend the meeting.
Adv. Om Prakash mentions a matter for a hospital: We are facing an acute shortage.

Court: Please approach the Nodal Officer. Who is appearing for the governments?

Sr. Adv. Monika Arora: My Lords, they are before the SC.

Court: You have a large team.
Sr. Adv. Rajshekhar Rao, Amicus: The larger problem is that they should have the oxygen to supply it.

Adv. Om Prakash: I WhatsApp-ed and called several officers but my calls and messages were diverted. I was forced to approach the amicus at midnight.
Prakash: How are individuals getting cylinders when the hospital is not getting it?

Court: By cylinders do you mean CNG or ?

Prakash: Medical oxygen, my hospital is dependent on medical oxygen.
Court: By an order yesterday we have already directed them to release 170 oxygen concentrators.
Adv Sachhin Puri: There 470 oxygen cylinders that have just landed from the US, if there is an emergency, the centre may be directed to allocate them to us.

Rao: Some patients cannot sustain on concentrators, cylinders necessary.
Court: We didn't want to say this but you have to take care of Delhi, even the SC has said, it is the capital.

Puri: There are 1700 concentrators landing today.

Court: Yes, but all is not for Delhi.
Prakash: My Lords, my hospital may be included in the list.

Court: What kind of exercise have you done? This is Covid-19 facility and not included!
Adv. Abhinav Tyagi submits for Seth Air: Everyone thinks we are a very big supplier, but we are not. I have no working capital and then everything comes back to me. They are telling me to pass on the higher cost to the hospitals. I can't do that.
Tyagi: Yesterday too I made a loss of nearly Rs. 3 lakhs.
Rao: I don't think that losses of Rs. 3 lakhs or so are the real concern here, it's not even much.
Court: Regarding supply to Max and Batra hospitals, there should be some certainty about the supply otherwise they're on tenterhooks!
Court is informed that Batra Hospital was told beforehand already.

ED Batra Hospital: Inox and Goyal have both not sent their supplies, we have a crisis and are on tenterhooks.
Batra Hospital: If they supply us very late, we keep running out of oxygen.
Court to Supplier: We wrote the order basis the figures shared by you. So you have to now supply it.
Siddharth Jain for Inox: We have supplied specific quantities to Batra and Max, but our tankers are being held up.

Batra Hospital: Sir, forgive me, but there are no checks anywhere, especially medical supplies - none are being stopped, but your trucks getting stuck.
Jain: We have no desire to not give you oxygen. But please understand that we have got 85 MT to supply to different hospitals whose cumulative demand is 245 MT.
Court suggests forming of a WhatsApp group for the parties to communicate with each other. Suggestions are well taken by all.
Court is informed by Max that it is not getting its allocated supply.

Court: Mr. Jain, why is Max not getting its allocated supply?

Jain: My Lords, as I mentioned, we have been given 85 MT, to supply 250 MT to 45 hospitals.
Court: Are any of the other suppliers also present? Inox.. Lindae, is anybody there from Lindae?

Adv. Ajay Bhargava: My Lords it's just been us appearing the whole week. Other suppliers, noone is appearing.
Adv. Rohit Priya Ranjan: My Lords, the suggestion regarding all suppliers being present on WhatsApp group may be put on the order as well.
Adv Karuna Nundy appears for Aseemit Social Projects Foundation: We have some suggestions that we want to put forth - if a patient comes to a hospital, and if they are assessed as needing a bed/ICU bed, they may be given domiciliary oxygen..
Court: This would mean that thousands of people would come to the hospitals only to get that certificate..

Nundy: My Lords, the problem is that only the rich ones are getting the oxygen.

Court: That isn't true, the rich don't even want to go to the hospital.
Nundy: Another suggestion is that Orissa has come up with a quite efficient referral system.
Nundy: Rather than having people roam around in cars and not get hospital beds -

Someone interjects -

My Lords, Mr. Venugopal would like to join.

Court: Someone please leave.
Court: Mr. Rao were you able to go through the issues from yesterday?

Rao: My Lords they have filed some compliance but it's not even a compliance. Somewhere a document suggests that Delhi has demanded 470 MT.
Court: The ultimate bottomline problem is that only. If we had more oxygen..we wouldn't have these many petitions.

Rao: My Lords I've been talking to some civil society members who have done mapping of the oxygen requirement. They say it's going to nearly go upto 50000 MT.
Rao: Today, the Central Govt has quoted before the SC that the capacity is 10,000 MT currently.

The attempt can't be at constantly catching up, rather some provisions need to be made.

For eg: We need to set up a plant in Chhatarpur immediately.
Rao: There is a huge problem with tankers, it's not a long term solution. Even with conversion, one firstly needs a PESO certification, plus if industrial oxygen is not properly converted to medical, there may be huge problems. We don't want that on our hands right now.
Standing Counsel Satyakam informs that in the SC the Central Govt Officer Sunita Dabra has submitted that it was on a telephone call with the Chief Secretary, who said they needed 470 MT.
Satyakam: They haven't put anything on record. The court has asked them why they aren't now giving 200 MT more, as that's the requirement and there is no deficit anywhere.

Court: Ultimately it comes to that only.
Sr. Adv. Krishan Venugopal: My Ld. Friend, Mr. Satyakam has talked about the DRDO, but the DRDO is not the Army, Navy or the Air Force. We are in desperate need for hospital beds, that should be the first priority.
Venugopal: At the highest levels of Delhi govt, a decision can be taken about this, and they can easily write to these authorities. Yes, approval from the Central Govt will be needed but I'm sure the Centre will not stand in the way.
Venugopal: This morning's @htTweets carries an advertisement about how retired doctors, nurses, paramedics who may offer their services for a certain specified rate.
Venugopal: It is heartening to note this. In fact, they may be used for tele-consulting also.

Court: Mr. Satyakam, this is a highly impractical solution. Retired doctors from that age group would never want to approach for this.
Satyakam agrees.
Batra Hospital: The RT-PCR testing is still considered the gold standard for testing. Rapid Antigen Test has no value literally.

Court: But if people come positive in RAT they atleast know that they're positive. It's also much faster.
Adv. Malhotra: RAT has chances of false negatives, My Lord.
Malhotra: As per my information, Delhi govt has not paid them which is also why they haven't taken so much interest. So first issue with testing labs was lack of manpower, second was non-payment.
Adv. Kamil Khan: My Lords, earlier the Mohalla Clinics used to do nearly 200-300 tests everyday, now it has come down to 50.
Khan: It's likely due to the lack of testing kits allocated by the agencies.

Court: Ms. Arora, have you got any instructions on what Delhi is getting from the consignment which has landed today from the US?
Arora: We will take instructions My Lords.
Seth Air submits that the main issue it's facing is that it's not being able to handle to supply it's been allocated.
Rao: The MD of Air Lindae has also got Covid-19. The National Pricing Authority has capped the price of O2 at about Rs.15 at supplier end, and about Rs. 24 at refiller's end.
Rs. 15 at manufacturer* end
Rao: The delta amount is coming due to transportation costs. Seth says its problem is that it can't absorb the delta amount as its bills aren't being cleared by hospitals.
Rao: But the tankers should not be held up.

Court: The pricing authority, they should do the exercise. Mr. Tyagi, ultimately the price will have to be transferred to the hospitals and then the patients. You're a big player, please continue supply.
Tyagi: No, my Lords, we are not a big but a medium level player and we are being asked to supply by both the Delhi govt and Haryana govt. Yesterday, we had to supply 400 cylinders to the Indian Army, our jawans were dying. What can I do, my Lords?
Tyagi: We had to supply, and Delhi didn't get it. The situation on ground is very harsh.
Tyagi: My Lords, we are apprising the court of the situation because I'm being portrayed as a very big player, I'm expected to supply 37 MT, that can't happen. On top of it, I'm being labeled for doing alleged black marketing.
Court: Satyakam, you will need to look into the quantity and price aspect, both.

Satyakam: Yes, my Lords.
Murlidhar from Air Lindae joins: I myself am down with Covid-19.

Court: We just want to say that don't stop supply, absorb the costs if you can.

Murlidhar: The third party tankers cost is already incurred. They can pay later but cost can't be reduced further.
Tyagi: Even if they give at Rs.15.22 I don't have the funds. The hospitals and the Delhi government both need to clear my payments. We can't manage in this manner. I am in no position to supply because there's no money.
Court: How much is your outstanding?

Tyagi: I'll take instructions.
A person mentions a matter regarding migrant laborers being affected by Covid-19. Court directs for the matter to be clubbed with another similar petition before DB-IV.
Sr. Adv. Rahul Mehra joins.

Mehra: There was a hearing at length before the SC. The Central Government and I have both been heard. Some factually incorrect dates were given, so I too was heard.
Mehra: Regarding allocation, Ld. Solicitor General indicated that he has something on his mind that he wants to indicate.

Court: Indicate when and where?

Mehra: That wasn't clear. But if he joins, he can indicate what he wanted to indicate.
Mehra: He has also said that India is an oxygen surplus state. They tried to state that we weren't able to pick, etc. However Justice Chandra had said 3-4 important things which I want to place.

1 that we must get what we need. 2 Centre must intervene.
Mehra: 3. Constitutionally, Delhi has a special status and represents the microcosm of the entire country. 4. Centre is obligated to take care of Delhi.
Court: Mr. Malhotra, do we take it that this order which has been passed today and will be released tomorrow, will be sufficient?
Mehra: If Mr. Mehta can kindly come online and clarify, it was indicated that politics must take a backseat, Delhi government must work in a cooperative spirit and steps should be taken immediately.
Mehra: If Mr. Mehta can clarify what he wanted to say.

Mehta: The spirit in which I said something there, and in which the court responded, I wasn't even asked to state there but I'm being asked to state here. I didn't anticipate.
Mehta: The court indicated certain things in good faith, and I responded in good faith in the direction of the problem being solved.

Court: So are you doing anything? If you are, it will save us the trouble of writing the order.
Mehta: Your Lordships have more experience than me.. you know what it means.

Court: Whatever you are planning, can you please apprise us.

Mehta: Your Lordships may please put it on Monday.

Court: We'll put it tomorrow and would like to hear it tomorrow.
Court: Everyday people are dying, hundreds of people. We are fed up of hearing everyday - the hospitals, nursing homes.
Mehra: What I felt was that they will look into it. Even the Hon'ble SC said that they hope and expect it won't be looked at in an adversarial manner.

Mehta: With respect to oxygen, your Lordships may put it on Monday, other internal admin issues, may be put tomorrow.
Court: The aspect of oxygen shortage, if the need arises, will be looked into by this Court on Monday. We hope that the need doesn't arise.
Mehra: The need won't arise.

Court: We are hopeful.
Mehra continues on other issues.
Mehra: I said about Inox that they're the best in the industry, I hope I don't have to retract my statement. They say we are changing our orders but we've been changing in their favour. Mr. Jain will have to explain.
Mehra: There are allegations coming in of black marketing.. and these are the bigger chains, I shudder to think what's happening with the smaller ones.
Mehra: Inox has given erratic figures to Ganga Ram, against the Centre allocated supply of 10 MT.

Jain joins.

Jain: I am shocked as to how Mr. Mehra can say such things, when the Delhi Govt itself has failed miserably as compared to others.
Jain: They keep changing supply figures like pizza delivery numbers. I've already pointed out that we have been supplying to nearly 45 hospitals.
Jain: I keep getting asked where the product is, but the fact is there is no product. We have only now got the quantity we asked for so now we will be able to supply as required by hospitals.
Jain: I didn't know Mr. Mehra was also representing Max hospitals apart from Delhi govt because he's only spoken of Max.

Court: Mr. Jain that's in bad taste, it's not necessary.
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