Amid an acute shortage of medical oxygen, Khalsa Aid India on Friday said it will provide oxygen concentrators to COVID-19 patients in Delhi free of cost.
The NGO, which has recently procured 65 oxygen concentrators, said to avail the service people would have to fill up a registration form, and that patients with "low oxygen saturation levels" would be given priority.
Delhi is facing a severe oxygen shortage for the past few days with several hospitals scrambling to shore up their oxygen supplies.
The volunteers will be delivering oxygen concentrators in all parts of the capital, it said.
"There is a huge gap between the demand and supply of oxygen, we want to play a miniscule part to bridge that gap. Though our effort is like a drop of water in an ocean, it was much needed. We were getting requests for oxygen so we managed to procure concentrators for the needy under-privileged patients," said Amarpreet Singh, director of Khalsa Aid Project (Asia Chapter).
Singh said his organisation will procure more oxygen concentrators in the coming weeks, taking the number from present 65 to 100.
Oxygen concentrators, witnessing a massive surge in demand amid the crisis in Delhi, is a portable medical device used for delivering oxygen to individuals with breathing-related disorders. It filters the surrounding air, compressing it to the required density, and then delivers purified medical-grade oxygen into a pulse-dose delivery system or continuous stream system to the patient.
"Seeing the present situation we are trying to procure more machines to serve maximum (number of patients). The organisation has set up an online Whatsapp registration process to avoid physical contact. We are also trying to procure oxygen cylinders to fight this situation more efficiently," said advocate Puneet Singh, a trustee of Khalsa Aid India.
The national capital on Thursday logged a record 306 COVID-19 deaths and 26,169 cases with a positivity rate of 36.24 per cent, the highest since the pandemic began a year ago.
(With PTI inputs.)
