Frame Guidelines To Hospitals For Creating 'Oxygen Master Plan', To Have Own Oxygen Plants As Licensing Requirement: Plea In Delhi High Court

A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court for framing guidelines to hospitals to create "Oxygen Master Plan" including mandatory directions to hospitals to have their own Oxygen Plants as a licensing requirement and arrangement of Oxygen tankers, Uninterrupted Oxygen supply points and Oxygen ambulance.

The plea, filed by Jaswinder Singh Jolly and moved through Advocates Naginder Benipal and Harpreet Singh Hora, highlights that the reliance of hospitals to have their oxygen oxygen master plan is imperative in order to prevent the large scale loss of life which has happened in Delhi during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stating that here are regulations and policies for Facilities, Electricity, water, sewage, biomedical Waste, Health License etc, the plea provides that there is no policy in place for hospitals to have their own oxygen plants/tankers/ambulances.

Highlighting that the medical healthcare facilities have faced tremendous pressure for catering the patients needs including dealing with shortage of medicines and oxygen supply, the plea reads thus:

"That it has come to fore that several hospitals in Delhi charge an enormous amount of fee from the patients in the name of treatment but it is shocking that the hospitals ask the patients or their attendants to give undertaking for arranging oxygen cylinder/supply for the respective patient and when it comes to have their own medical Oxygen for their patients, all the hospitals have to offer is mere assurances and they look towards external Oxygen suppliers or the governments." 

The plea also avers that the major suppliers for both industrial and medical oxygen are steel plants in the public and private sectors and that the private entities and the hospitals in Delhi are "completely dependent on those external entities for their Oxygen & are not self-reliant."

"The state of Delhi is not "Oxygen rich" in terms of medical oxygen as the same is not produced evenly in India. Some states are oxygen producing States such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Jharkhand but the state of Delhi do not have production capacity and rely on supply of oxygen from oxygen producing States thereby such guidelines and mandatory provisions are necessary to prevent any loss of life in Delhi's hospitals in the present as well as coming future." The plea reads.

The plea seeks the following prayers:

- Issue Writ(s) or Order(s) in the nature of Mandamus and/or similar direction/order/writ to frame guidelines to hospitals to create "Oxygen Master Plan" including mandatory directions to hospitals  to have their own Oxygen Plants as a licensing requirement for hospital, arrangement of Oxygen tankers, Uninterrupted Oxygen supply points, Oxygen ambulances.

- Pass any other order as deem fit in the interest of justice.