Covid-19: Andhra govt sends oxygen SOS to Centre

The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday sent an SOS to the Centre seeking an enhanced supply of medical oxygen as the demand is expected to touch 1,000 tonnes by May 15, officials said.

While the central government has now allotted 480 tonnes of medical oxygen to the state from various sources, the maximum consumption per day touched 550 tonnes (including government and private hospitals).

The state currently has a storage capacity of 515 tonnes. There are about 25,000 Covid-19 patients on oxygen and ventilator support in hospitals across the state now.

At a high-level review meeting here on Covid-19, Medical and Health Department officials informed Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy that distress (for oxygen) was generally observed in Kurnool, Vijayawada, Ongole, SPS Nellore and Chittoor districts.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant would not be able to supply more than 100 tonnes of medical oxygen after May 15, the officials told the CM. "To that extent we need to ensure additional sources for oxygen.

The current allocation of quantities was completely illogical, as also the distance (from where the oxygen is sourced)," they pointed out. They said lifting oxygen from Angul/Rourkela (in neighbouring Odisha) was proving difficult as it required a huge number of tankers to be diverted from the existing system.

Subsequently, the Chief Minister wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking increased allocation, from INOX Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, to 200 tonnes per day from the present 25 tonnes. Similarly, allocation from Bellary in Karnataka too should be increased to 200 tonnes per day from 63 tonnes.

Meanwhile, the health authorities were in the process of finalising bids for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of PSA oxygen generating plants in 53 hospitals across the state. Bids have been finalized for procurement of 15,000 oxygen concentrators, 10,000 D-type oxygen cylinders while a purchase order has been issued for 250 new ventilators, highly-placed official sources said.

"We are also issuing purchase order for procurement of 25 cryogenic oxygen tankers (20 KL containers) with the vehicle from abroad. We are also initiating the process for procurement of 25 more cryogenic tankers of varying capacities," the sources said.

Three oxygen storage tanks with a capacity of 125 KL each would also be procured. The tender process for selection of agencies for supply of liquid medical oxygen was underway, they added.