CHENNAI: The State government on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that it has a storage capacity of 1,167 tonnes of oxygen, with a daily production capacity of 400 tonnes, and has allotted over 9,000 ventilators for Covid treatment. It asserted that it is prepared for any exigency, and has no shortage of oxygen, beds, Remdesivir or ventilators.
The submissions were made after the court took suo motu cognizance of the Covid situation based on news reports that there was a shortage of Remdesivir and diversion of oxygen to other States without the government’s consent.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Thursday, before commencing proceedings, directed Advocate General Vijay Narayan to get instructions on the measures taken by the State to handle the Covid crisis.
“We don’t want to add to the confusion, but we want to put you on notice before so that you can obtain instructions from the government and tell us what measures are being taken because within the State also, without reference to anybody, we have sufficient industries that can be required to manufacture oxygen daily,” the court added.
Commencing the proceedings in the afternoon, the Chief Justice directed Narayan to concentrate on the availability of Remdesivir, oxygen, ventilators and vaccines. The A-G, in response, submitted that 31,0000 vials of Remdesivir, which is more than enough to meet contingencies, are available, and are being distributed to private hospitals on request at subsidised prices.
On the availability of oxygen, the A-G said there is a storage capacity of 1,167 tonnes, and manufacturing capacity of 400 tonnes per day. In Puducherry, the manufacturing capacity is 150 tonnes per day and usage is about 250 tonnes per day, he added. He also emphasised that the State recently diverted about 65 tonnes of oxygen to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “Our manufacturing is far ahead of the requirement,” he emphasised.
The A-G also stressed that the State has enough ventilators, including 2,440 high-flow nasal oxygen cannulas. “We have put in place contingency measures as well, which will be known by tomorrow (Friday), or in a day or two,” the A-G said. The bench recorded the submissions and observed, “We should also be helping other States that do not have an adequate supply (of oxygen).
We are one country. If we have the resources here, we must share it.” The court also appealed to the Central government to consider how the underprivileged would be able to afford vaccines. It then adjourned the plea to Monday for the State to file a report on the availability of vaccines and beds.