By PTI
RANCHI: The police in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district on Tuesday said that it has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the disappearance of 186 oxygen cylinders and 60 regulators from a hospital.
Headed by SDPO Hazaribag Mahesh Prajapati, the five- member SIT is conducting raids at various places to nab the culprits, Superintendent of Police Karthik S said.
An FIR was registered after the oxygen cylidners and regulators were found missing from Hazaribag Medical College and Hospital on Sunday.
The police are interrogating five persons including a ward boy of the hospital who was named in the FIR, the SP said.
The SIT is also examining documents from the hospital where more than 160 COVID-19 patients are currently admitted.
The development came on Tuesday amid the state saying it is moving towards becoming a medical oxygen surplus state and is gearing up to cater to the needs of other states.
The state has constituted an oxygen task force to ensure uninterrupted supply of the life saving thing for patients.
Amid the state battling the second surge of COVID-19 pandemic, continuous efforts are being made to augment the health infrastructure and boost oxygen supply by setting up oxygen banks in all districts and plants in Sadar hospitals, a state government spokesperson said.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday had also inaugurated a 80-bed coronavirus care centre at West Bokaro in Ramgarh set up by Tata Steel.
“Despite limited resources, continuous efforts made by the government brought success. The government is working towards setting up an oxygen bank in all the districts and setting up an oxygen plant in the Sadar hospitals across the state.
“As of now, there is no shortage of oxygen supply in the state and Jharkhand is heading towards becoming an oxygen surplus state,” the spokesperson said.
Terming the second wave as “worrying” and “fatal”, an official statement quoted the National Clinical Registry saying that issues related to breathing difficulties in the first wave was 41.7 per cent, which increased to 47.5 per cent in the second wave.
It said given the surge in demand for medical oxygen, the state machinery constituted task forces which worked on a war footing to map the medical oxygen supply chain in the state and ensured uninterrupted supply of oxygen to hospitals.
“As of April 2021, there were 12 oxygen refilling units in the state. These units could refill 6,000 to 7,000 cylinders per day. 315 tonnes of oxygen was being produced by five oxygen manufacturers operating in the state.”
“By 22 April, this was increased to 570 tonnes per day. The work of increasing the capacity of oxygen production in the state is still in progress,” the statement said.
It said there was a daily demand of 80 to 100 tonnes of oxygen in the state till April 22 while state could produce far more and oxygen was supplied to other states.
The statement said in April ,1824 new oxygen supported beds were made available in the entire state and efforts were made to ensure that at least 50 oxygen supported beds are available in every district.
At present, the number of oxygen supported beds in most districts is sufficient enough to meet the current demand, it added.
A new Covid Care Centre in the multi-level parking of RIMS, equipped with 327 oxygen supported beds was set up recently.
To ensure the availability of oxygen in the hospitals, Sanjeevani vehicles were introduced by the state which carry oxygen cylinders to hospitals in case of SOS.
The state reported 60 fresh COVID-19 fatalities taking the death toll to 4,539, while 2,507 new cases pushed the tally to 3,18,009, a health department bulletin said.
The mineral-rich state now has 33,524 active cases, while 2,79,946 patients have recovered from the infection, it said.
The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state now stands at 88.03 per cent, better than the national average of 84.80 per cent.
State capital Ranchi, which has been severely impacted by the virus, recorded 10 deaths during the day, as against 18 on Monday, 19 on Saturday, 28 on Saturday, and 40 fatalities on Friday.
For the first time in May, East Singhbhum with 12 COVID-19 deaths recorded higher fatalities than Ranchi.
On Monday the district had recorded 7 COVID-19 deaths.
Seven deaths were recorded in Bokaro, followed by six in Hazaribag, four in Dhanbad and three in West Singhbhum.
Two fatalities each were reported from Chatra, Garhwa, Giridih, Gumla, Ramgarh, and Simdega.
Jamtara, Khunti, Koderma, Latehar, Palamu, and Saraikela recorded one death each.
No deaths have been reported from six of the 24 districts in the state during the last 24 hours.
The six districts are Deoghar, Dumka, Godda, Lohardaga, Pakur, and Sahebganj.
A look at the health bulletin of the state suggests that prominent cities of Jharkhand like Ranchi, East Singhbhum with headquarter at Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad, and Hazaribag are witnessing high COVID-19 cases, while relatively backward districts including Chatra, Gumla, Latehar, and Pakur are logging a lesser number of infections.
Battling a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases during the second wave, the state government has extended the lockdown till May 27.
Restrictions with stricter provisions, including seven days mandatory quarantine for people visiting the state, are now in place.
Altogether, 77,88,630 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in Jharkhand thus far, including 52,887 since Monday, it added.
The mortality rate in the state remained higher at 1.42 per cent as against the nation’s 1.10 per cent.
In a bid to protect its citizens from the deadly virus, the Jharkhand government had on May 14 launched a free vaccination drive for people in the age group of 18 to 44 years.
Over 1.57 crore people in the state are in the 18-44 years age bracket.
The state government could not roll out the inoculation drive for these people from May 1 as it was facing a shortage of vaccines.
