Doctors and patients at St George hospital can finally breathe easy, now that the long pending payment of bills due to the hospital's oxygen supply agency have been cleared. The firm will be restoring the central oxygen supply to the hospital today, having received a payment of Rs 4.5 lakh from the hospital yesterday.


Breathe easy: MiD DAY had reported on January 4, how the hospital's
central oxygen supply line had been discontinued owing to non-payment
of bills

MiD DAY had reported in its January 4 edition, how the hospital's central oxygen supply line had been discontinued owing to non-payment of bills ('Unpaid oxygen bills leave St George Hospital gasping for air'). From the second week of December, the many patients scheduled for surgery or on ventilator support in the ICU were at the mercy of portable oxygen cylinders.
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Medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr DR Kulkarni said, "The bills have been cleared. Our supply will be restored immediately."

The hospital ended up paying Rs 40,000 per week for the hefty cylinders, while centrally supplied oxygen costs about Rs 12,500 per week.