Paris: French gas giant Air Liquide SA is diverting oxygen supplies for industrial clients in India to hospitals as the country is overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 patients.
Air Liquide is sending most of its liquid oxygen output to the health-care sector and is looking to import additional supplies from the Middle East, Executive Vice-President Francois Jackow said Friday. Demand for medical oxygen in India has soared roughly 10-fold, or by more than 50 per cent of the country’s total production capacity, he said.
“The situation in India is becoming more and more dramatic,” Jackow said when presenting Air Liquide’s first-quarter results. “The crisis is picking up.”