Tag: medical oxygen shortage

  • IISER Bhopal team develops affordable oxygen concentrator to meet demand during virus surge

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal have developed an affordable oxygen concentrator to meet high demand of medical oxygen amid a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

    The device, which is estimated to cost less than Rs 20,000, can provide 93-95 per cent pure oxygen with a flow rate of up to 3 litre/minute, they said.

    According to the team, the device, which costs around Rs 60,000-70,000 at present, has been developed as a solution to tackle the oxygen shortage amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “The device, called ‘Oxycon’, has been developed using the open-source technology and material. Once approved, it can be used anywhere from small villages to big cities due to its affordability,” said Siva Umapathy, Director, IISER Bhopal.

    “Unlike the first wave of COVID-19, the second wave has hit the surface very hard.

    The spread has been recorded significantly high and many of the affected need emergency oxygen support.

    Hence, hospitals all across the nation are in need of oxygen cylinders or concentrators and the demand has spiked in a very short time,” Umapathy added.

    The researchers said that the developed device is portable, customizable and easy to deploy.

    “It has a compressor that takes ambient air and passes it through columns having material named zeolite under an optimized pressure.

    Two such columns are used in alternate cycles and electronically controlled valves are used for this purpose to make it automatic and provide a continuous oxygen supply.

    “The material, zeolite, absorbs nitrogen from the air and throws it back to the atmosphere, hence the concentration of oxygen increases in the air at the outlet.

    The valve controls are achieved using a programmed micro-controller based circuit,” said Mitradip Bhattacharjee, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, IISER Bhopal.

    “This system prototype has already been developed and compared with the commercial systems currently available at the market and we have received positive outcomes.

    We are actively looking for industrial collaborations to further improve and manufacture the system at a larger scale and to deploy it after necessary testing and approvals,” he added.

    India logged a record 3,49,691 new coronavirus infections in a day taking its tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,69,60,172, while active cases crossed the 26-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

    The death toll increased to 1,92,311 with a record 2,767 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

    Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 26,82,751 comprising 15.82 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 83.05 per cent.

  • Railways, IAF being deployed to reduce transportation time for oxygen tankers: PM at high-level meeting on COVID

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Amid several states flagging scarcity of medical oxygen in the COVID-19 fight, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Railways and Air Force are being deployed to reduce the transportation time for oxygen tankers and all state governments need to work together to meet requirements of life-saving gas and medicines.

    Chairing a high-level meeting with chief ministers of 11 states and union territories with maximum COVID-19 cases, Modi urged states to work as one and coordinate with one another to fulfil medical requirements, asserting that “if we work as one nation, there will not be any scarcity of resources”.

    Modi said every state should ensure that no oxygen tanker, irrespective of its destination, is stopped or gets stranded, a statement said.

    The prime minister’s call for coordination and working together to meet the spiralling health crisis comes amid multiple reports of medical oxygen supply being stopped at borders of one state or the other during transit.

    Hospitals in many states have complained of a shortage in their oxygen supply and sent out SOS messages, requiring the government to take urgent measures to increase the production and supply of the life-saving gas.

    Modi noted that the Railways and Air Force have been deployed to reduce the travel time of oxygen tankers and assured states of the Centre’s full support in the fight against the pandemic.

    It was the prime minister’s third meeting with chief ministers in the last five weeks, while he also held his fourth review meeting in one week to review the oxygen availability situation, officials said.

    Modi asked states to take stringent measures against hoarding and black marketing of essential medicines and injections.

    He also called for making people continuously aware so that they do not indulge in panic buying.

    He said that with united efforts, they will together be able to stop this second wave of the pandemic across the country.

    With some opposition-ruled states criticizing the Centre’s recently announced vaccination policy as discriminatory against states, Modi said that the Union government has already provided them more than 15 crore doses free of cost.

    Noting that the virus is affecting several states as well as tier 2 and tier 3 cities at once, the prime minister called for working together to fight the pandemic with collective power.

    He said the biggest reason for India’s success during the first wave of the pandemic was its united efforts and strategy and reiterated that the Centre and states will have to address this challenge in the same way.

    Taking note of the points raised by chief ministers on the issue of oxygen supply, Modi said there is a continuous effort to boost it and all related departments and ministries are also working together.

    Industrial oxygen has also been diverted to meet immediate requirements, he noted.

    He said each state should ensure that no oxygen tanker, irrespective of which state it is headed for, is stopped or gets stranded, and urged chief ministers to set up a high-level coordination committee to carry oxygen to different hospitals of the state.

    This coordination committee should ensure that as soon as there is an allotment of oxygen from the Centre, it can deliver oxygen as per requirement in different hospitals of the state immediately, he said.

    Asserting that the Centre is working on all possible options to reduce the travel and turnaround time of oxygen tankers, he said the railways has started Oxygen Express while empty oxygen tankers are also being transported by the Air Force to reduce one way travel time.

    Along with upgrading of resources, states have to focus on testing for the infection, he said, stressing that widespread testing should be conducted so that people get the facility easily.

    He also said that the ongoing vaccination programme should not slow down, noting that more than 13 crore vaccine doses have been provided free of cost to the states by his government so far.

    The campaign launched by the central government to provide free vaccine to all citizens above 45 years as well as health care and front line workers will also continue, he said.

    Noting that the vaccine will be available to all citizens above 18 years of age from May 1, he said they all need to work in mission mode to get more and more people vaccinated.

    Expressing grief on recent incidents of oxygen leakage and fire at hospitals, Modi said along with all measures for the treatment of the patients, hospital safety is also very important.

    The administrative staff of the hospital needs to be made more aware of the safety protocols, he added.

    Thirteen COVID-19 patients died in the blaze at the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Virar in Maharashtra, police said on Friday.

    At least 22 patients had died on Wednesday due to the interrupted supply of oxygen at a civic hospital for COVID-19 patients in Nashik in Maharashtra following the leakage from an oxygen storage plant.

    In the meeting of Modi with chief ministers, a presentation was made by NITI Aayog member V K Paul that highlighted the preparations being made to counter the new surge of infections.

    Paul also presented the roadmap for increasing the medical facilities and targeted treatment of patients, the statement said.

    During the interaction, chief ministers of states, which included Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh  Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, briefed Modi about the steps being taken by them in the current wave.

    They said the directions given by the prime minister and the road map presented by NITI Aayog would help them plan their responses in a better way, the statement added.

    With a record single-day rise of 3,32,730 new coronavirus infections, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,62,63,695, while active cases crossed the 24-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

  • Rajkot hospitals in Gujarat complain of acute shortage of oxygen

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: Several COVID-19 hospitals in Rajkot district of Gujarat have said that they have been facing acute shortage of medical oxygen, with some of them even expressing fear that the paucity of this life-saving gas might even result in death of patients if the situation does not improve.

    Ironically, the Gujarat government had recently claimed in the high court that adequate medical oxygen was available in the state.

    In Rajkot city, two critical patients admitted to Kundan Hospital died after the facility ran out of oxygen as alleged by their family members, even as the hospital management has denied the charge.

    “The hospital did not have any oxygen for almost two hours during the night.

    Two COVID-19 patients lost their lives due to oxygen shortage.

    For the last three days, relatives have been arranging oxygen cylinders for the patients as the hospital was not interested,” a relative told reporters on Friday.

    However, the hospital claimed that the patients were already critical when they were admitted.

    “The allegation that two patients lost their lives due to oxygen shortage is unfounded.

    Both the patients were already critical and oxygen supply has nothing to do with their deaths,” said Dr Manoj Sida of the hospital.

    Meanwhile, Rajkot Collector Remya Mohan has ordered an inquiry into the allegations.

    “I have ordered an inquiry into the allegations against Kundan Hospital.

    A three-member committee, headed by a Sub Divisional Magistrate, would probe the matter,” the collector said.

    Some hospitals in Rajkot complained of oxygen shortage.

    In a statement, the city-based Genesis Multispeciality Hospital, one of the COVID-19 hospitals, also declared that its oxygen stock was declining fast and the remaining stock would last for a couple of hours only.

    The hospital said that critical patients could die in the absence of medical oxygen.

    In Gondal town of Rajkot district, three designated COVID-19 hospitals claim that they are not getting enough supply of medical oxygen.

    These designated hospitals are Krishna Multi Speciality Hospital, Shreeji Hospital and Shree Ram Hospital.

    Of the total number of 70 coronavirus patients admitted to Krishna Hospital, 62 are on oxygen support, Dr Bharat Shingala said, adding that his hospital somehow managed 35 cylinders from other sources and from good samaritans in the morning just before the stock ended.

    “The distributor is also overburdened because oxygen is in short supply.

    Though we had sent two vehicles with empty cylinders for refill, our turn did not come even after 15 hours.

    We somehow managed 35 cylinders in the morning.

    Other hospitals are also facing the same issue,” said Shingala, a leading doctor of Gondal.