VIJAYAWADA: The State government has roped in the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), to strengthen oxygen supply network.As per the directive of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Principal Secretary (Transport) MT Krishna Babu on Saturday held talks with the ENC and RINL officials to overcome the shortage of oxygen.
The Indian Navy has agreed to transport 25 cryogenic tankers of liquid oxygen from Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia to Andhra Pradesh. Disclosing this to mediapersons, Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal said now with Navy chipping in, the oxygen supply chain to hospitals will be further strengthened.
“Our efforts to get more oxygen allocated to AP have yielded results as the Centre has increased oxygen allocation to the State to 590 MT. However, the allocation is not adequate to meet the oxygen requirements of the State fully. Hence, we are continuing our efforts get more oxygen from the Centre. At the same time, we have urged the Centre to allocate oxygen from the plants near AP like Bellary in Karnataka and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, to the State as it ensures speedy transportation of the elixir of life,” he said.
The Principal Secretary said 491 MT of oxygen was supplied to government and private hospitals in the last 24 hours. The government has also urged Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to allocate 90-100 MT of oxygen that it has at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota to AP. “If ISRO allocates it, the oxygen needs of Nellore district will be met to some extent,” he said.
ENC agrees to rectify tech glitches in oxygen plants
Singhal said Krishna Babu held discussions with Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of Eastern Naval Command and CMD of VSP on supply and storage of oxygen and maintenance of plants in the State. The ENC has agreed to take the responsibility of fixing leakages in oxygen plants and rectify other technical glitches.
Four special teams have been constituted and each team will oversee maintenance of oxygen plants in three to four districts. Arrangements are made to airlift these teams to the location of plants if necessary. The Navy has also agreed to provide special vehicles for transportation of liquid medical oxygen containers for regular use and supply oxygen concentrators, D-type oxygen cylinders and other medical equipment required for Covid treatment.
Further, the ENC will allot 10 oxygen beds and 60 general beds in INS Kalinga Hospital for Covid patients. It has also come forward to develop infrastructure for a 150-bed temporary Covid hospital at Kancharapalem in Vizag.
On the other hand, the VSP informed the government that only 100 MT of oxygen is being produced in two units with a capacity of 850 MT. Efforts are being made to get the plants operational to their installed capacity within a few months. A special committee of contracting agencies will study the plant situation within a week. Though it may not be of immediate help, the future oxygen needs will be taken care of if the plants function at their installed capacity. The Naval Dockyard has agreed to extend support to the contacting agency in this regard, Singhal said.
The VSP has also come forward to set up a 50-bed hospital with oxygen facility for Covid treatment at Gurajada Kalakshetram in Vizag. The VSP CMD has said 150 additional beds will be arranged in the hospital by May 15. About 250 beds will be available by May 30 and 600 beds by June. The district administration has been asked to deploy required doctors and medical staff to run the hospital. The ENC and VSP thanked the government for providing 4,000 doses of vaccine to their staff.