Centre steps in to augment medical oxygen supply as critical Covid-19 cases spiral

Supply plan prepared that has to be followed by all states and union territories

Stepping in to address the issue of paucity of medical grade oxygen supply to critical patients while Covid numbers spiral menacingly , Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for ramping up its production while undertaking a comprehensive review of the matter.

Separately in a meeting to review status of Covid-19in Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh and the public health measures taken for containment and management of Covid-19by the state health authorities, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan informed that the Union Government has mapped the manufacturing sources of Oxygen with the 12 States reporting the highest number of daily new cases.

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In a letter to Chief Secretaries of states, Bhalla also emphasized that the availability of "adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen" is an important prerequisite for managing moderate and severe cases of Covid-19 and that any impediment in the supplies of medical oxygen, an essential public health commodity may critically impact the management of patients suffering from the disease.

The Home Secretary pointed out that to ensure the smooth supply of medical oxygen to concerned agencies, the Empowered Group II, which is mandated for coordinating medical logistics including oxygen, has prepared a supply plan that has to be followed by all states and union territories and directed them to ensure that no restriction is imposed on the movement of medical oxygen among the states and UTs. He asked the Chief Secretaries to instruct transport authorities to allow free movement of oxygen-carrying vehicles.

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At a time when several states have imposed night curfews and other curbs, the Home Secretary also made it clear that no restriction shall be imposed on oxygen manufacturers and suppliers to limit the oxygen supplies only to the hospitals of the state in which they are located and asked the state authorities to ensure free movement of oxygen carrying vehicles into the cities without any restrictions of timings, while also enabling inter-city supply without restriction.

He said the states’ demand for oxygen cylinders (including 10 Litre cylinders and 45 litre jumbo cylinders) and demand for additional ventilators (having high flow nasal cannula) will be met very soon.

Cylinder filling plants will also be permitted 24 hour working with necessary safeguards. The Government is allowing Industrial cylinders to be used for medical oxygen after due purging. Similarly nitrogen and argon tankers will be automatically allowed to be converted to oxygen tankers to overcome the potential shortage of tankers.

PM Modi in a separate meeting asked for ensuring adequate medical grade oxygen supply and underlined the need to ensure synergy across ministries and state governments.

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Armed with the inputs from ministries like Health, DPIIT, Steel, Road Transport, the Prime Minister, who was presented with an overview of district level situation in 12 high burden states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan) took a detailed review of current situation of oxygen supply and projected use in the coming 15 days there.

Officers also briefed the PM about the efforts being made to import medical grade oxygen and the production capacity in the country to meet the rising demand. Modi asked for increasing oxygen production as per the capacity of each plant. It was discussed that surplus stocks of oxygen supply in steel plants are being offered from medical use.

Modi was informed that states and transporters have been asked to ensure tankers move round the clock with drivers working in shifts to ensure faster turnaround and adequate capacity to meet the surge in demand.