If your fight over oxygen is over, let's ensure no one suffers from oxygen shortage in third wave: Kejriwal

A day after the Supreme Court panel's report that the Delhi government overstated its demand for medical oxygen during COVID's second wave by four times, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday hit back at Centre and said a system should be created to ensure no one suffers from oxygen shortage in the third wave.

"If your fight over oxygen is over, can we get back to work? Let's make such a system together that there is no shortage of oxygen in the third wave. In the second wave, people suffered a severe shortage of oxygen. Now, this should not happen in the third wave. If we fight amongst ourselves then Corona will win. If we fight together, the country will win," tweeted Kejriwal in Hindi.

The Supreme Court's oxygen audit team in its report said, "The Delhi government exaggerated the oxygen requirement for the city by more than four times during the April 25-May 10 period, at the peak of the second COVID wave," and added that the supply of excess oxygen to Delhi could have triggered a crisis in its supply to 12 states with the high caseload.

"There was a gross discrepancy (about four times) in the actual oxygen consumption claimed by the Delhi government (1,140MT) as it was about four times higher than the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity (289 MT)," the report further stated.

The average consumption of oxygen in Delhi was between 284 to 372 MT, said the report, and added that "the excess supply of oxygen affected other states in need of oxygen".

The panel, led by AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, included Delhi Government Principal Home Secretary Bhupinder Bhalla, Max Healthcare Director Dr Sandeep Buddhiraja and Union Jal Shakti Ministry Joint Secretary Subodh Yadav.

( With inputs from ANI )

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