NEW DELHI: The Centre, following a review by PM Narendra Modi on the oxygen crisis in the country, said that against a demand of 6785 MT of liquid medical oxygen in 20 states, 6822 MT of the crucial supply had been ensured to these states from Wednesday.
The claim came amid continued pleas for supply by heads of several private hospitals in the national capital who sent out urgent messages saying that they were running out of oxygen
Oxygen has emerged as a major intervention to save lives amid a mammoth surge of COVID-19 infections in the country and most states, witnessing the worst of the pandemic so far, are reporting an acute shortage of this vital resource.
In the high-level review meeting, the PM meanwhile stressed on increasing production of oxygen, raising the speed of distribution and using innovative ways to provide oxygen support to health facilities.
He also said that states should come down heavily on hoarding.
As per a statement issued by the government, over the past few days, availability of liquid medical oxygen has been raised by about 3,300 MT every day with contributions from private and public steel plants, industries, oxygen manufacturers as well as through prohibition of supply of oxygen for non-essential industries.
The Centre, it added, is working together with the states to operationalize the sanctioned PSA oxygen plants as soon as possible.
Modi, in the meeting, also said that there is a need to fix responsibility with the local administration in cases of obstruction and also asked ministries to explore various innovative ways to increase production and supply of oxygen.
Various measures are being undertaken to rapidly increase the availability of cryogenic tankers through conversion of nitrogen and argon tankers, import and airlifting of tankers as well as manufacturing them, the government said.
The review by the PM came a day after the Union ministry of health and family marginally increased quotas of eight states, reporting the highest surge in COVID-19 cases.
The states where the supply has been raised included Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand apart from the national capital where the hospitals have been sending out SOSs due to interrupted supply lines since Monday.
“In view of a sudden spike in the demand for oxygen in some states due to an exponential rise in the number of COVID patients admitted in the hospital, the Union government has increased the quota of oxygen,” said the ministry.
Delhi, which was slated for 378 MT of medical oxygen supply every day, will now get 480 MT while Madhya Pradesh will get the maximum raise of 98 MT per day, taking it to 543 MT from the current supply of 543 MT.
Maharashtra, which is reporting over 60,000 COVID-19 cases every day, will now get 1661 MT of oxygen, 15 units higher than the current supply of 1646 MT oxygen per day.
On Wednesday, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said in a press briefing that out of nearly 7,500 MT oxygen being produced in the country, nearly 6600 MT was being used in hospitals.