Covid-19 crisis: Oxygen output up but logistics hurdles remain
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Synopsis
Top steel companies and oxygen producers have ramped up production of the gas to meet high demand from hospitals amid the surge in Covid-19 cases and an increasing number of patients requiring oxygen support. Diverting industrial oxygen for medical use is hurting the output of finished steel, but the companies say saving lives is more important.
PTI
There is a shortage of cylinders and vessels to transport the oxygen to cities where it is in high demand, though introduction of the Oxygen Express trains and other government measures have helped ease the situation, the producers say.
May 12, 2021
The second wave of Covid-19 in India quickly went from being a healthcare crisis to a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of patients gasped for breath in the absence of enough high-flow oxygen, which is an effective treatment for the disease.
For more than a month now, the oxygen crisis in the country has been a tug-of-war between the Narendra Modi government, state governments, hospitals, and oxygen manufacturers. In several areas, individuals have been left to run from pillar to post in search of oxygen cylinders for their family and friends.
All stakeholders have their own reasons for why Indian doctors still don’t have enough supply of the essential gas to treat their patients.
Many hospitals across various states are facing an oxygen shortage. In the national Capital, the overstretched health infrastructure is gasping for breath because of an acute shortage of medical oxygen in the city after serious COVID cases started flooding the hospitals.
Persisting Vaccine Crunch
India is likely to continue facing a shortage in vaccine supply for the next few months. However, the Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla believes that the situation is likely to improve from July.
SII is working on increasing the existing production capacity and it will come into effect by July 2021. Post that, the vaccine production is being expected to increase from current 60-70 million doses/ month to 100 million doses. The Centre has also granted Rs 3,000 crore to SII for the required capacity expansion.
In Mr Poonawala s words, SII refrained from expanding capacity earlier as they did not have enough orders. The company estimated the order flow to be far more benign before the country was swept away by the second Covid wave.
Oxygen supplier asks Delhi for its distribution plan
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In an April 24 communication to the Delhi government’s health department, Inox has cited the national Oxygen supply plan drawn up by the Centre’s Empowered Group 2 and its own limited production capacity, for its inability to serve the remaining 28 hospitals.
Agencies
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As Oxygen demand soars up manifold across Delhi hospitals, the Delhi government is faced with ironing out serious supply issues.
The latest challenge at hand has come from key oxygen supplier to North India- Inox- which has said it can only meet the O2 demand for 17 hospitals and not all 45 it has a contract with.