VMC Notification for Grouping of Hospitals to Assist in Oxygen Supply

A notification is issued by Officer on Special Duty Dr. Vinod Rao for grouping of hospitals to assist in uninterrupted availability of oxygen order under the epidemic diseases act 1897. The hospitals are divided in three groups where 164 Hospitals in Group C are notifying as Non Oxygen Hospitals.

The demand in Oxygen supplies has risen steeply in the last one week and the State Government has allocated Quota of Oxygen for various districts as per the case load. To ensure that the needy patients continue to get the requisite supply, it has been decided to make the following arrangement.

As per the notification all COVID Designated Hospitals will be categorized into Government COVID Hospitals, Group A — Private COVID Hospitals with highest number of patients on Oxygen support, ICU and Ventilators, Group B - Private COVID Hospitals with lesser number of patients on Oxygen support, ICU and Ventilators and Group C - All other Private COVID Hospitals who will ONLY give treatment support for COVID Patients NOT REQUIRING Piped/Cylinder Oxygen.

All Government Hospitals will have the first priority on allocation of Oxygen made available to Vadodara by the State Government. The administration will also continue to increase the capacity of Oxygen beds, ICUs and Ventilators in these Hospitals. As of today, the estimated consumption of Oxygen by the 12 hospitals in this category is 92 Metric Tons per day. This is likely to increase in view of the enhancement of capacities but it will be rationalized based on availability of Oxygen Supply.

All Group A Hospitals will also have the first priority on allocation of Oxygen made available to Vadodara by the State Government. As of today, the estimated consumption of Oxygen by 25 Hospitals in this group is 35 Metric Tons per day.

All Group B Hospitals will have the next priority on allocation of Oxygen to Vadodara by the State Government. The administration will try and ensure uninterrupted supply to these Hospitals. For this purpose they will divide the 50 Hospitals in this group into 5 sub groups and in case one of the Hospitals of any sub group face temporary shortages, the buffer stock of rest of the Hospitals in the sub group will hand hold these Hospitals to overcome the temporary shortage. As of today, the estimated consumption of Oxygen by these 50 Hospitals is 23 Metric Tons per day.

All Group C Hospitals shall cease to have any HDU beds with immediate effect. The existing patients may be treated till discharge but no fresh patients on Oxygen support should be admitted except with own Oxygen Concentrators. The administration will permit a one time SOS stock of Oxygen to these Hospitals to sustain the patients in case they need to be referred to higher facilities.

The notification further states and no
Hospitals , Clinics, Consultants, NGOs, Institutions shall prescribe Oxygen Therapy for Home Based COVID Care. They shall not do hoarding of Oxygen in any manner since it will create artificial scarcity of Cylinders and Oxygen. No agency will be allowed to do refilling or trading of Oxygen in any form unless falling in any of the authorized category of Hospitals above.

This order will be effective from 25th April 2021 and till further notice and person / Institution / organization found violating any provision of these regulations shall be deemed to have committed punishable offence under section 188 of Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

Dr. Rao said, This Notification will help us overcome the extraordinary situation of Oxygen shortage and safeguard the lives of patients admitted in Hospitals of Vadodara. They will try and ensure 150 Tons of guaranteed Oxygen supply to 12 Government Hospitals, 25 Group A Hospitals and 50 Group B Hospitals.

They are notifying 164 Hospitals in Group C as Non Oxygen Hospitals. This will marginally decrease the number of Oxygen Beds in Vadodara by about 600 Beds but it wont impact availability much since they have more than 1500 Oxygen empty as of today.

He further said that they will modify the Order and change the list as the situation changes. They will give sufficient time of 4-5 days to taper off Oxygen supply to Group C Hospitals to ensure that patients on Oxygen support in these Hospitals are not put to any risk or much inconvenience.

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