MYSURU: With the massive surge in Covid-19 cases, Karnataka, which has 5.49 lakh active infections, is the second-most affected state in the country after Maharashtra, where thousands are battling for life amid an acute shortage of liquid medical oxygen (LMO).
The local administration everywhere is scrambling every day to get enough supplies, leading to oxygen wars between different districts. Even ministers are reaching out to oxygen plants to ensure adequate supplies to the districts they are in charge of.
This has become more accentuated after the deaths of 24 patients at the Chamarajnagar District Hospital due to oxygen shortage. The incident immediately sparked a war of words with Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner M R Ravi pointing fingers at Mysuru DC Rohini Sindhuri for ‘rationing and restricting’ oxygen supply to the neighbouring district. The turn of events compelled the State Government and Karnataka Lokayukta to order separate inquiries into the entire episode.
Over the last three days, oxygen supply to Chamarajanagar district has improved, meeting the requirement of 3.5 kilo litres per day after District In-charge Minister S Suresh Kumar visited the oxygen plants. The situation has come to such a pass that Mysuru-Kodagu MP Prathap Simha has now appealed to the government to fix a quota of oxygen for Mysuru and neighbouring districts to end the tensions and ensure that Mysuru is not blamed for any shortages.
While Mysuru district’s estimated requirement is 44-48 metric tons per day, it is supplied 24-28 MTs from four refilling plants. In neighbouring Mandya district, the daily requirement is 15-17 Kl per day, but it is being supplied with 10-12 kl once in two days. After District In-Charge Minister Narayana Gowda visited some oxygen plants, local MLAs and the MP have raised objection to him taking away cylinders when there are more than 2,000 beds in the district and plans are afoot to increase it to 7,000 oxygenated beds.
From Kalaburagi to Kodagu, O2 scarcity haunts K’taka districts
IN Madikeri, the designated Covid-19 hospital, which is equipped with a 13-kilo litre oxygen unit, gets only 6 kL every day from a private firm in Ballari. While beds are available, there is a dearth of oxygen cylinders and less than 50 individual oxygen cylinders are currently available in Kodagu. Deputy Commissioner Charulata Somal said that a proposal for 900 oxygen cylinders has been sent to the state. The medical oxygen shortage, which was witnessed a couple of days ago in Davanagere, as 8.5 kl was being sent to Mangaluru and Udupi, has now stabilised.
Regular supply of 6 Kl is being met by Southern Gases in Harihar and Jindal Steel Works in Vijayanagar. The situation was such that Davanagere District In-charge Minister BA Basavaraj had directed the authorities to stop supply to other districts. While Hassan district requires 600 oxygen cylinders per day, it is getting 400 cylinders. Deputy Commissioner R Girish said the district is currently getting 450 cylinders and they are managing the shortfall by purchasing oxygen from different agencies. The district administration also has stopped supply of oxygen to neighbouring Chikkamagaluru district due to rising number of cases in Hassan.
On Saturday, Udupi district had 900 litres of liquid oxygen at the district government hospital and the authorities have sent reminders to the suppliers as only 2,000 litres was supplied against a requirement of 6,000 litres. The hospital is pinning its hopes on the buffer stock of 40 jumbo cylinders as wait for the arrival of the oxygen, said District Surgeon Madhusudhan Nayak. However, Dakshina Kannada district seems to be breathing easy with oxygen plants in six medical colleges.
According to Binoy Nambiyar, nodal officer for medical oxygen in the district, the requirement is 22-25 tons a day and at least half of it is met by the LMO plants of the hospitals. Recently, the district received 40 metric tons of oxygen from Bahrain out of which 20 metric tons is provided to Dakshina Kannada. But the worry is the ensuing monsoon when road connectivity to the coastal region gets affected, hitting the supply of goods. “Kalaburagi district is also facing a shortage with only 13 Kl being supplied from Ballari against the requirement of 20 Kl per day.
“We have also requested supplies from oxygenproducing units in Mumbai and Hyderabad and 12 concentrators will arrive in Kalaburagi on Monday,” said Kalaburagi District Minister Murugesh Nirani. Bidar is also facing the heat with only 3 kl oxygen supply per day whereas Raichur has 24 kl stock as against the demand of 12 Kl. In the Covid hospitals in Dharwad district, the demand for oxygen has doubled from 20 tons to 40 tons per day following the increase in Covid cases. Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, representing Hubballi- Daharwad, ensured supply of 70 tons of oxygen as the twin cities have three oxygen storage units. Meanwhile, four Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) oxygen plants will come up in Hubballi- Dharwad to meet the demand.
Belagavi district is being supplied only 18 tons as against a requirement of 25 tons per day. The scarcity has led to a ban on oxygen supply to social organisations. Private hospitals which have a large number of Covid19 patients have also been affected. The demand in Bagalkot district is 20 MT but the district is supplied with only 15 MT of oxygen, forcing the authorities to depend on oxygen cylinders. However, in Vijayapura the demand of 15 kl of oxygen daily is being met.
In Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s home district Shivamogga, Vivesvaraya Iron and Steel Ltd is supplying a steady 20 kl to McGann District Hospital and 13 private hospitals. Chikkamagalur district, which requires 2,800 Kl oxygen per day, is getting 3,000 Kl. Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts are better off as the demand for 10 MT per day each in both the districts is being met from industrial areas in Malur, Mahadevapura and Dobbspet and their proximity to Bengaluru has largely helped.
CCB nets gas co staffer for selling o2 in black
Bengaluru: Officers of the Central Crime Branch on Friday raided the premises of Siga Gases Pvt Ltd located in the Peenya industrial area here, and arrested the branch in-charge for allegedly selling oxygen cylinders in the black market. The accused, Ravi Kumar (36), had joined the company 10 years ago. Kumar was allegedly charging D3,000 for a cylinder of 47-litre capacity, while the government rate for the same is D300.
(With inputs from Belagavi, Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Udupi, Hubballi and Kalaburagi bureaus)