News Analysis India

Tag: Oxygen

  • Vedanta Limited moves Supreme Court to continue making oxygen 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Vedanta Limited on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking its directions on continuing the operation of its plant in Thoothukudi for producing medical oxygen. 

    During the hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Vedanta in the case, mentioned the plea before the bench regarding the operation of the plant. However, the Tamil Nadu government, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, opposed the plea and said that the State currently has enough medical oxygen. 

    The court has decided to  take up the case for a detailed hearing on Friday. The issue came up in the court as the plant was previously allowed by the court to operate until July 31 only for the production of medical oxygen with no access to its copper and power plants within the premises in Tamil Nadu. 

    The Sterlite copper plant, which was closed down in May 2018 following protests by local residents of Thoothukudi, was granted this permission to mitigate the ballooning need for medical oxygen during the second wave of Covid-19 infections which hit the country earlier this year.

  • In a first, IIT Ropar develops rationing device to increase life of oxygen cylinder three-fold

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH: The demand for medical oxygen has jumped manifold amid the second wave of COVID-19. To address the need for oxygen to counter a future crisis such as a potential third wave, IIT Ropar has developed an oxygen rationing device AMLEX, which will increase the life of the cylinder three-fold.

    IIT Ropar said that as per industry figures, the pre-COVID demand for liquid medical oxygen (LMO) before the pandemic was 700 tonnes per day (TPD) across the country. During the first wave of COVID-19 last year, the demand for LMO increased four times to 2,800 TPD. Further, with the second wave, the demand has gone up more than seven times the pre-COVID levels to 5,000 TPD.

    The device developed at IIT Ropar supplies a required volume of oxygen to the patient during inhalation and trips when the patient exhales CO2, thereby saving the flow of oxygen at that time. So far, during exhalation, the oxygen in the oxygen cylinder/pipe is pushed out along with the exhaled CO2 by the user. This leads to the wastage of a large volume of oxygen in long run. In addition to this, a large volume of oxygen escapes from the openings of the mask to the environment in the resting period (between inhalation and exhalation) due to continuous flow of oxygen in the mask.

    “AMLEX is a system developed specifically for oxygen cylinders. It synchronizes the flow of oxygen with inhalation and exhalation of the patient. This conserves a large amount of oxygen in the reservoir for a long-lasting operation,” said Dr Ashish Sahani, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, IIT Ropar.

    “The patient’s experience is relaxing and non-suffocating as the device is fully able to work with commercially available oxygen masks with multiple openings to the environment. This device is even useful in non-pandemic situations in remote areas, as it can operate on both portable power supply (battery) as well as line supply (220V-50Hz), where the transportation of goods and supplies is a major challenge,” he added.

    Amanpreet, a PhD scholar working in the team, says, “In the current situation, oxygen is provided to a patient via an oxygen mask which is connected to the oxygen supply (like oxygen cylinder) with flexible tubing. During the operation, the current commercially available device gives a continuous flow of oxygen during both inhalation and exhalation cycle which makes a temporary reservoir ofoxygen in the mask, hence a large volume of oxygen escapes from the openings of the mask to the environment in the resting period (between inhalation and exhalation) due to continuous flow of oxygen in the mask.”

    Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar, said, “This oxygen rationing device, AMLEX, shall be quite useful and user-friendly and will help meet the demand by increasing the life of the cylinder. The device is quite easy to use. It can be easily connected between the oxygen supply line at its two input and output connectors. Standard sized connectors make the device handy and ready to use without the requirement of any additional set-up.”

    Dr GS Wander, Director Research and Development of Dayanand Medical College at Ludhiana, said, “We have learnt a lot about importance of effective and pertinent use of oxygen during the pandemic. Although many hospitals are building oxygen production capacity, a device like AMLEX can really help in smaller rural and semi-urban centres to use oxygen in the best possible manner at all times and specially during an unexpected surge in demand as was experienced during the second wave of the present COVID-19 pandemic.”

  • Oxygen task force advocates for authorities maintaining ‘strategic reserves’ to handle COVID spike

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Proposing an equitable formula for managing oxygen supply, the Supreme Court-constituted National Task Force (NTF) stressed that authorities must maintain strategic reserves for 2-3 weeks, like it is done for fuel by petrol stations, to manage the surge in COVID-19 cases in future.

    NTF said a 100-bed hospital should be allocated about 1.5 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen every day. Meanwhile, a committee constituted to see oxygen supply stated that Delhi needed about 300 MT at that time, but the Delhi government raised the demand to 1200 MT.

    ALSO READ| Delhi made exaggerated claims for Oxygen using wrong formula: Sub-group to SC

    The oxygen audit report further said due to Delhi’s excessive demand, 12 other states had to face a shortage as supply was diverted to Delhi.

    The task force suggested measures to be taken to prevent a repeat of the crisis. The 12-member NTA lauded the Central government’s efforts, saying it took proactive steps last year to control the spread of the pandemic.The task force suggested oxygen monitoring committees be set up in every hospital.

    Further, monitoring teams should be available to ensure proper assessment of need as per hospital protocol. The NTF was constituted to devise a formula oxygen allocation, after Delhi disputed the Centre’s methods.

    “The formula needs to be developed for the calculation of oxygen requirement for the primary, secondary, and tertiary-level hospitals based on the number of Oxygen beds and ICU beds,” it said. For a 100-bed hospital with 25% ICU beds, the report stated that its daily requirement should be 1.5 MT.

  • HC asks Maharashtra to consider passing ordinance making oxygen plants must in private hospitals

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday said the Maharashtra government must consider passing an ordinance making it mandatory for private hospitals to have their own oxygen manufacturing units to meet the demand for the life-saving gas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A bench of Justices Amjad Sayyad and G S Kulkarni was referring to a previous order of the court, in which a bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta had said that it was high time that private hospitals in the state had their own oxygen plants.

    The court had previously directed the state to inform it about the time needed, cost and area required for setting up such plants.

    Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni on Thursday told the High Court that the state currently had adequate oxygen supply.

    Kumbhakoni further said hospitals will need one to two weeks to install manufacturing plants, and each plant with the capacity to produce one metric tonne of oxygen per day would cost Rs 1 crore.

    To this, the bench asked whether this was feasible, as there is a third wave coming and the state needs to be prepared for it.

    The Advocate General said the state would also have to amend the existing statutory provisions to make it compulsory for private hospitals to install oxygen plants.

    “Instead of amending the Acts, you can consider passing an ordinance to the effect. That would save time,” the court suggested.

    The court will continue hearing the matter on June 2.

  • UP: Hospital owner, booked over oxygen shortage rumours, arrested for assaulting TV staff

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: A Lucknow-based private hospital owner, who was earlier booked for “spreading rumours” about oxygen shortage, has been arrested for allegedly assaulting an employee of a TV news channel, police said on Tuesday.

    Sun Hospital’s Akhilesh Pandey was arrested on Monday after a complaint was filed by Nitin Mishra, Station House Officer, Vibhuti Khand, Chandra Shekhar Singh said.

    Mishra in his FIR alleged that he had gone to the hospital in Gomti Nagar on Monday for advertisement of his channel when Pandey confined him for hours, beat him up and also took his gold chain and cash.

    The FIR was lodged under IPC sections 392 (robbery), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

    Pandey’s lawyer Abhinav Nath Tripathi told PTI, “The executive of the channel misbehaved with my client. He was trying to blackmail him. The hospital had CCTV footages which police took away and have deleted the related footage.”

    Tripathi further said that they have applied for bail and accused the police of not entertaining Pandey’s complaint against the news channel employee.

    However, police has denied the charge of being vindictive against Pandey.

    The hospital’s owner had earlier been booked on May 5 for allegedly giving wrong information about the availability of oxygen at the facility and turning away patients.

    The district administration had filed an FIR against him after officials found ample oxygen stock in the hospital.

    Talking about this matter, Tripathi said, “We had gone to Allahabad High Court with a complaint against the administration.”

    “This is an effort to intimidate him (Pandey).”

    “We got relief from the Allahabad High Court on May 11. The court had stayed any coercive action against Pandey in connection with the case. We have written a letter to Allahabad High Court Chief Justice seeking relief in the matter,” he added.

  • COVID crisis: Navy, Army design oxygen recycling systems to alleviate shortage

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy said on Wednesday it has designed an oxygen recycling system that extends the life of the existing medical oxygen cylinders two to four times to alleviate the current shortage of the life-saving gas.

    The system is designed based on the fact that only a small percentage of oxygen inhaled by a patient is actually absorbed by the lungs, the rest being exhaled into the atmosphere along with carbon dioxide produced by the body, the Navy said in a statement.

    This exhaled oxygen can be re-used, provided the carbon dioxide is removed, it added.

    “To achieve this, the system adds a second pipe to the patient’s existing oxygen mask, which sucks out the air exhaled by a patient using a low-pressure motor,” the statement mentioned.

    India has been badly hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections, and hospitals in several states are reeling under a shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.

    The Navy said the oxygen recycling system has been designed by the Southern Naval Command’s diving school.

    “The system is now being progressed for clinical trials in accordance with existing guidelines, which are expected to be completed expeditiously, after which the design will be freely available for mass production in the country,” it added.

    All components used in the system are indigenous and freely available in the country, the Navy said.

    The Indian Army said on Wednesday it has found a solution for efficient conversion of liquid oxygen to low pressure oxygen gas that can be given to COVID-19 patients at their hospital beds.

    “Over seven days, the team of Army engineers in-direct consultation and material support from CSIR & DRDO put together a working solution using vaporisers, pressure relief valves and liquid oxygen cylinders,” the Army’s statement noted.

    CSIR stands for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and DRDO stands for the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

    “Since oxygen was transported in liquid form in cryogenic tanks, quick conversion of liquid oxygen to oxygen gas and ensuring availability at the patients’ bed was a critical challenge faced by all hospitals managing COVID patients,” the statement said.

    The engineers’ team used a self pressuring liquid oxygen cylinder of small capacity (250 litres) and processed it through a especially designed vaporiser and directly usable outlet pressure (4 Bar) with leak-proof pipeline and pressure valves, it mentioned.

    India has been badly hit by the second wave of coronavirus infections and hospitals in several states are reeling under shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.

    The engineers’ team was led under Major General Sanjay Rihani.

    A prototype with two liquid cylinders capable of feeding oxygen gas for 40 beds for a period of two to three days was made functional at base hospital in Delhi.

    “The team has also tested a mobile version to cater for typical shifting requirements in hospitals,” the statement noted.

    “The system is economically viable and is safe to operate since it obviates high gas pressure in the pipeline or cylinders and does not require any power supply to operate. The system is capable of replication in a quick time frame,” it added.

    India saw a record 4,529 fatalities due to coronavirus in a single day pushing the COVID-19 death toll to 2,83,248, while 2.67 lakh fresh cases were recorded, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

    With a total of 2,67,334 fresh infections, India’s total tally of cases climbed to 2,54,96,330.

  • Amid Jharkhand’s claims of being oxygen surplus state, 186 cylinders go missing from Hazaribag hospital

    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.

  • Delhi HC declines Kalra’s plea for speedy decision on bail by trial court; says let law take its own course

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to direct an expeditious decision on the bail plea of businessman Navneet Kalra, arrested in connection with alleged black marketing of oxygen concentrators, saying “let the law take its own course”.

    Justice Subramonium Prasad also declined to interfere with the observations made by a sessions court while dismissing Kalra’s anticipatory bail plea, saying the Supreme Court has already laid down the law with regard to observations made by courts and their reporting by media organisations.

    The high court declined to grant the reliefs sought on behalf of Kalra, represented by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, saying that he had moved an anticipatory bail plea which has become infructuous due to his arrest and therefore, nothing remains in the matter.

    Pahwa had made two oral prayers, at the start of hearing on Tuesday, that directions be issued to the trial court concerned to decide his client’s bail plea expeditiously and secondly, to expunge the observations made against Kalra by the sessions court as due to his arrest he can no longer challenge the order denying him anticipatory bail.

    A Delhi court on Monday remanded Kalra to three days of police custody, saying his custodial interrogation is required in connection with alleged black marketing and hoarding of oxygen concentrators amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    He was apprehended from Gurugram on Sunday night and was formally arrested on Monday.

    He was on the run for over a week since the seizure of 524 oxygen concentrators from Khan Chacha, Town Hall, and Nege & Ju restaurants owned by him.

    He was apprehended two days after the high court on May 14 declined to grant him any interim protection from arrest while his plea for anticipatory bail was pending before it.

    While the sessions court denied him anticipatory bail on May 13, a magisterial court on the same day granted bail to an arrested employee of upscale restaurant Town Hall, owned by Kalra, in connection with the case.

    Four employees of Matrix Cellular company, including its CEO and vice president, who were also arrested in the case are also out on bail.

    Kalra had bought the concentrators from Matrix Cellular which had imported them.

    On May 5, a case was registered against Kalra under Section 420 (cheating), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

    The FIR, also registered under Essential Commodities Act and Epidemic Diseases Act, for black marketing of oxygen cylinders prescribes maximum punishment for seven years.

  • CM Uddhav Thackeray urges sugar cooperatives to produce oxygen for treating Covid patients

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday urged the sugar cooperative industry to produce oxygen, much needed for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

    He was speaking after attending the virtual inauguration of an oxygen production plant of Dharashiv Sugar Cooperative in Osmanabad district.

    The sugar cooperative is the first in the state to start oxygen production, an official release said.

    Thackeray said the state needs to become self- sufficient in oxygen production to beat the second wave of COVID-19.

    “Our production capacity is 1,200 metric tons (per day)while the demand is 1,700 metric tons. If we produce 3,000 metric tons of oxygen, we will be self-sufficient,” he was quoted as saying.

    Municipal corporations are trying to ramp up their oxygen production and sugar cooperatives should also follow the suit, he said.

    Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who also participated in thr virtual function, said having their own oxygen plants should be made mandatory for hospitals with more than 50 beds.

    Every district must be able to meet its oxygen requirement from within the same district, he suggested.

    The Dharashiv sugar cooperative has converted its ethanol project into oxygen plant which would be producing six tons of oxygen with 96 per cent purity daily.

  • Raise oxygen production, ensure streamlined delivery: SC-appointed task force in first meet

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The first meeting of the 12-member National Task Force set up by the Supreme Court to ensure the delivery of medical oxygen throughout the country in a streamlined manner, was held on Sunday.

    Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Union Secretary (MoRTH) Giridhar Aramane were also present in the meeting, sources said.

    According to the directions of the apex court, a few more experts can be co-opted in the team. 

    All members of the National Task Force commended the significant amount of work done by various ministries and departments of Government of India in augmenting the oxygen production capacities as well as in ensuring its efficient distribution, sources said. 

    The members also provided specific suggestions for further increasing oxygen production and availability, managing the demand side of medical oxygen, and parameters on which individual health facilities could ensure economy in use of medical oxygen, they said. 

    The National Task Force members include Bhabatosh Biswas, former vice chancellor of West Bengal University of Health Sciences, Kolkata; Devender Singh Rana, chairperson of Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi; Devi Prasad Shetty, chairperson and executive director of Narayana Healthcare in Bengaluru; Gagandeep Kang, professor, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore in Tamil Nadu, among others.

    According to the directions of the Supreme Court, few experts can be co-opted in the team.

    Accordingly, V K Paul, member (Health), NITI Aayog; Randeep Guleria, director AIIMS, New Delhi; Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR and Secretary (DHR); and Sunil Kumar, DGHS, Ministry of Health, were present as special invitees in the meeting.

    The National Task Force decided to continue its deliberations to arrive at specific recommendations.

    The Supreme Court had constituted the 12-member National Task Force of top medical experts to formulate a methodology for allocation of oxygen to states and Union territories for saving lives of COVID-19 patients and to facilitate a public health response to the pandemic.

    (With PTI Inputs)