India has been steering through a grim challenge in the midst of bracing up the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has culminated into more severity than the preceding one. The drastic resurgence of the pandemic has poured light on the flawed medical infrastructure that the country has in treating the virus-hit patients. 

While the country has been reporting unprecedented surges every day, it has been witnessing a health crisis of treating the patients with a lack of adequate hospital beds and a dearth of oxygen supply across the country. Though the Central government advocates for the COVID-19 vaccines, it has been alarmed with the weakening state of medical infrastructure. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi holds testament to the current state of medical infrastructure as the hospital in a lurch in the wake of oxygen shortage.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi is one of the important hospitals in the national capital treating COVID-19 patients. On Friday, it has sent SOS to the government by saying that it is running out of oxygen and it has dozens of patients at risk. According to reports, the officials of the hospital had on Friday morning said that 25 sickest COVID-19 patients had succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours and the lives of another 60 patients are at risk. 

The official said that the hospital has a stock of oxygen that will only last for two hours and ventilators and Bipap are not working effectively. The need of the hour is that oxygen has to be airlifted urgently as the lives of another 60 sickest patients in peril. PTI has quoted a source saying that 'low-pressure oxygen' could be the likely cause for the deaths. To tackle the crisis, the hospital authorities are resorting to manual ventilation in ICUs and the emergency department and it has alarmed the government to supply oxygen to save lives. 

The hospital has 510 COVID-19 patients, including 142 on high-flow oxygen support. The development has been a major setback for the Delhi government in addressing the crisis amid curbing the virus spread. The reports say that several private hospitals are struggling to cope up with the crisis with many managements beckoning the SOS alert to the government crying to supply oxygen to resuscitate the lives of ailing people. 

Delhi has been fighting the crisis for over three days now and a government official said that while some of the hospitals are making short-term arrangements, there is no immediate end to the crisis in sight. While Shri Ganga Ram Hospital is running out of oxygen, the administration at Shanti Mukund Hospital has hoarded a notice at its entrance by saying, "We regret we are stopping admission in the hospital because oxygen supply isn't coming". 

The officials at Saroj Hospital said, "There are 110 COVID-19 patients in the hospital and we have no option but to send patients to other hospitals". This has been the condition of major hospitals as the antidote to fix the oxygen crisis in Delhi is not in sight, pushing the government to a dreadful challenge in treating the patients. Delhi has been one of the states to report a heavy caseload of COVID-19 patients and the government has imposed a complete lockdown till April 26 to curb the spread of the pandemic. 

In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said that six hospitals in the national capital had exhausted their oxygen supply by Thursday evening. These include Rathi Hospital, Santom Hospital, Saroj Super Specialty Hospital, Shanti Mukund, UK Nursing Home, and Tirath Ram Shah Hospital.