Lockdown chokes medical oxygen makers

With a majority of oxygen manufacturers and dealers having shut up shop owing to the nationwide lockdown, industry representatives foresee an adverse impact on the supply and price of medical oxygen in the coming weeks.

At the outset, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said the government had an adequate supply of oxygen to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. “In all these weeks, only one person tested positive for the disease was put on a ventilator. Compared with other countries that swung into action late, we are in a good position,” he told DH, expressing confidence about the oxygen supply.

The government has 740 ventilators and has placed orders for another 500.

Industry representatives, however, see a different scenario. At present, only a handful of manufacturers are open and that too, at select hours. They fear an impending crisis — the price per cylinder, which is about Rs 140, could go up to Rs 1,500.

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Mid-level to small hospitals will feel the impact in the coming weeks. Also, the problem will be more pronounced in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where dealers are few or no manufacturers are located.

In addition, patients who are on ventilators at their homes will also bear the brunt, according to Mandya-based industrial and medical gas dealer Rajendra Prasad. “The government has to act now and give proper instructions to the industry. Otherwise, once the existing stock runs out, hospitals will find it a problem to refill cylinders,” he said.

Arihanth Ranka of Bentley India, a manufacturer in Bidadi, explained thus, “Industrial gas supply takes up 90-95% of the demand and hence the manufacturers are not operating their units at present. Even if they were to operate only to supply medical oxygen, the prices would inevitably go up. Workers are also hesitant to turn up, impacting production. Further, while bigger hospitals have a centralised system for liquid oxygen supply through pipelines, smaller hospitals and the new hospitals being planned by the government will have to depend on cylinders. This is problematic as not only does refill of cylinders require a lot of manpower, there aren’t a sufficient number of cylinders.”

Hospitals are concerned about what is likely to follow. Requesting anonymity, the managing director of a super-specialty hospital in Bengaluru said his hospital had ordered eight cylinders last week. “Of these, we have used about three till now. Once this stock gets over, it will be a problem if the dealers are not willing to supply.”