News Analysis India

Tag: Oxygen

  • COVID crisis: Mauritius sends 200 oxygen concentrators to India

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Mauritius has joined an international initiative in extending support to India in its fight against a severe second wave of coronavirus pandemic that has swept through the country.

    Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth said both the countries are united in the fight against COVID-19.

    Mauritius has already sent a shipment of 200 oxygen concentrators.

    “The Republic of Mauritius has donated 200 oxygen concentrators to help medical staff in India treat people suffering from the virus,” he said.

    “Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of India in these difficult times and my thoughts are with Prime Minister Modi and his government in this daunting fight against the COVID-19 virus,” he said.

    As India battles a devastating second wave of coronavirus pandemic, countries around the world have announced sending medical supplies to help it tide over the situation.

    The leading countries that have announced assistance to India include the US, Russia, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg, Singapore, Portugal, Sweden, New Zealand, Kuwait and Mauritius.

  • Government plans jumbo container based COVID hospitals near industries producing gaseous oxygen

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government is planning to set up jumbo container based COVID-19 hospitals near industries which produce gaseous oxygen in order to increase the number of oxygen-supported beds amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

    Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Piyush Goyal said steel plants have raised the production of by-product liquid oxygen so that the demand for the essential public health commodity could be met.

    New oxygen plants are being set up in different parts of the country while production capacity of existing plants have been increased, he said at a press conference.

    “Jumbo container based COVID-19 hospitals using gaseous oxygen will be set up near industries which produce mainly gaseous oxygen.  With this, oxygen beds can be increased as much as possible,” Goyal said.

    With a record single-day rise of 3,86,452 cases, India’s COVID-19 tally has climbed to 1,87,62,976, while the number of active cases in the country has crossed 31 lakh, the health ministry said on Friday.

    The death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 2,08,330 with 3,498 more people succumbing to it.

    Due to the sudden spike in coronavirus cases, there were reports of a shortage of hospital beds, ICUs and oxygen in some parts of the country, including Delhi.

  • COVID: First consignments of medical supplies from US expected to reach India by Friday

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The first consignments of medical supplies from the US and Russia are expected to reach India in the next two days and Indian missions abroad were told to focus on procurement of oxygen-related equipment and critical medicines such as Remdesivir, sources said on Wednesday.

    They said India has sought from the US medical supplies, including ready-to-use vaccine doses, as well as raw materials for production of COVID-19 vaccines, they said.

    The sources said an American aircraft carrying medical supplies is expected to land in India on Friday while a Russian plane is set to arrive by Thursday.

    With a large number of countries stepping in to send medical aid to India, the sources said no appeal for international assistance was made and that the supplies are largely being routed through the Indian Red Cross Society.

    The sources said India has been looking at oxygen-related items and critical medicines from abroad and Indian missions in leading countries have already been told to focus their efforts on their procurement.

    They said India was looking at specific products to buy and the list has been shared with the Indian embassies for their procurement.

    Some of it will come as grants to the Indian Red Cross Society, some of it is coming as individual procurement by public sectors undertakings, private sector and state governments, they said.

    They said the main focus of overseas procurement has been oxygen generating plants, oxygen concentrators and small and big oxygen cylinders as India is facing difficulty in transporting medical oxygen from various plants to the hospitals.

    “We were looking at oxygen itself but it is not easy. To bring oxygen, you need cryogenic tankers which are very limited in the world,” said a source.

    The other broad area of focus is procurement of critical medicines like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab and Favipiravir from the US and several other countries.

    When asked about reported comments by US officials at a recent background briefing that India has not made any request for ready-to-use vaccines from the US, the sources said the requirement of vaccine by India was taken up with the Biden administration.

    “The US is aware of our interest in procurement of vaccines, AstraZeneca or otherwise,” said a source.

    The sources said the US could be having around 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine at present and it is expected to produce 50 million doses by June.

    They said there is no response to China’s offer of support to India in view of the COVID-19 situation, and that there has been no restrictions on commercial procurements from that country.

    In case of Pakistan too, there was no response yet.

    The sources said the empowered group will take a call on whether to accept from foreign countries supplies like PPE (personal protective equipment) kits, masks and similar items as India is not facing their shortage.

    They said India is making commercial procurements of medical equipment from a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates.

    In response to a query on whether there was a shift from India’s policy of not accepting foreign aid enunciated after the 2004 tsunami, the sources said lot of material are coming from several foreign countries but they are specific to oxygen supply and medicines.

    A number of leading countries including the US, Russia, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg, Singapore, Portugal, Sweden, New Zealand, Kuwait and Mauritius have announced medical assistance to India to help it fight the pandemic.

    Singapore on Tuesday supplied to India 256 oxygen cylinders.

    “Timely support from a trusted friend! Appreciate the 256 oxygen cylinders that arrived from Singapore today. Value our cooperation to tackle the pandemic together,” Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

    France on Tuesday said it is sending to India five containers of liquid medical oxygen and each of them is capable of supplying medical oxygen to up to 10,000 patients per day.

    The country is also sending 28 ventilators and their consumables, as well as 200 electric syringe pumps.

    Under the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, Ireland is sending 700 oxygen concentrators, one oxygen generator and 365 ventilators to India while Belgium is supplying 9,000 doses of antiviral medicine Remdesivir and Sweden is providing 120 ventilators.

    Similarly, Romania is supplying 80 oxygen concentrators and 75 oxygen cylinders while Luxembourg is sending 58 ventilators to India.

    On its part, Portugal is in the process of shipping 5,503 vials of Remdesivir and 20,000 litres of oxygen per week.

    As part of its Civil Protection Mechanism, the EU plays a central role in coordinating its responses to emergencies in Europe and beyond.

    Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will send to India 500 ventilators, one million surgical masks, 500,000 P2 and N95 masks, 100,000 goggles 100,000 pairs of gloves and 20,000 face shields.

    India has been reeling under a devastating wave of coronavirus infections and hospitals across the country are facing acute shortage of beds, medical oxygen and other supplies due to rising COVID-19 cases.

  • SC seeks Centre’s reply on oxygen demand in country, steps taken to augment availability

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Taking note of resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to apprise it of projected demand of oxygen in the country, how it intends to allocate it to “critically-affected” states and the monitoring mechanism to ensure smooth supply.

    The apex court termed the pandemic situation as ‘national crisis’ and said that being the last Constitutional court, it cannot remain a “mute spectator”.

    It has made clear however that its suo motu proceeding on devising national policy for COVID-19 management is not meant to supplant high court hearings.

    The order, passed on Tuesday by a bench of justices D Y Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat, was uploaded on the top court’s website on Wednesday and dealt in details aspects of its future hearings.

    “Supply of oxygen” The Court should be apprised by the Union of India on (a) The projected demand for oxygen in the country at the present point of time and in the foreseeable future; (b) The steps taken and proposed to augment the availability of oxygen, meeting both the current and projected requirements; “(c) The monitoring mechanism for ensuring the supply of oxygen, particularly to critically affected States and Union Territories as well as the other areas; (d) The basis on which allocation of oxygen is being made from the central pool; and (e) The methodology adopted for ensuring that the requirements of the States are communicated to the Central Government on a daily basis so as to ensure that the availability of oxygen is commensurate with the need of each State or, as the case may be, Union Territory,” the order said, specifying issues to be taken up by the court on April 30.

    It asked central government to consider framing a policy specifying standards and norms to be observed for admitting patients to hospitals and COVID-19 centres.

    The order sought replies from the Centre and states on issues such as “enhancement of critical medical infrastructure, including the availability of beds, Covid treatment centres with duly equipped medical personnel on the basis of the projected requirement of healthcare professionals and anticipated requirements”.

    The governments will have to apprise the top court about steps taken to ensure availability of essential drugs, including Remdesivir and Favipiravir, as also the modalities for controlling their prices, preventing hoarding and ensuring proper communication of the requirements at the level of each District.

    On the issue of vaccination, the order said presently two vaccinations have been made available and as on date the programme has extended to citizens of the age of 45 years and above.

    “From 1 May 2021, the vaccination programme is to be opened up also to persons between the age groups of 18 to 45, in addition to the existing age group categories. The Union of India shall clarify the projected requirement of vaccines as a result of the enhancement of coverage,” it said.

    It has also sought response from the Centre on modalities proposed for ensuring that the deficit in the availability of vaccines is met and the steps proposed for enhancement of vaccine availability by sourcing stocks from within and outside the country.

    The government will have to specify modalities for administering vaccines to meet the requirements of those above 45 years of age who have already received the first dose; “How the supplies of vaccines will be allocated between various states if each state is to negotiate with vaccine producers and the steps taken and proposed for ensuring the procurement of other vaccines apart from Covishield and Covaxin and the time frame for implementation,” the order said.

    It took note of different prices of COVID-19 vaccines for Centre, states and the private hospitals and asked the central government to explain to it the “rationale and basis” behind such a pricing policy.

    “In order to allay the concerns of citizens, it is necessary that a panel of medical experts is nominated by the Central government to disseminate authentic information on all aspects including in regard to the steps which have to be taken for combating the pandemic.”

    “The Union of India may consider formulating modalities for ensuring due communication of advisories on a daily basis by the panel of nominated experts. This model may be replicated at the level of each State. This will ensure the dissemination of authentic information,” the order said.

    The replies have to be filed by the Centre, the Chief Secretaries of state governments and the Union Territories by 6 pm on Thursday on the issues raised in the order.

    The bench on April 22 took note of the pandemic situation due to sudden surge in COVID-19 cases as also in mortality and said it expected the Centre to come out with a “national plan” to deal with distribution of essential services and supplies, including oxygen and drugs.

  • Man alleges Haryana police held up his vehicle with two oxygen cylinders for ailing relative

    By PTI
    JIND: A man hailing from Sangrur in Punjab on Tuesday alleged that Haryana police personnel stopped him and held up his vehicle in which he was carrying two oxygen cylinders for his kin, a COVID patient admitted in a hospital in Ghaziabad.

    Rajendra Singh, the affected person, told reporters here that he was headed to Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh from Dhuri village in Punjab’s Sangrur when his car was stopped by the police at a checkpoint in Jind district around 11 pm on Monday.

    “I told them that I have to reach a hospital in Ghaziabad, where my relative was admitted due to COVID-19 and had a requirement for oxygen which I had arranged. The police personnel asked me to show vehicle papers, which I did. I even made a video call to show that the patient was actually admitted and in bad shape,” Singh claimed.

    He, however, said his phone was seized by the police at the checkpost in Gatauli area of Jind district and given back only in the morning while his vehicle was also held up during this period.

    He said that his 60-year-old relative Lalit Mohan, who was admitted in the Ghaziabad hospital, later passed away.

    Singh blamed the Haryana police personnel for his death.

    He also lodged a written complaint in this regard with senior police officials.

    Meanwhile, Jind Deputy Superintendent of Police Pushpa Khatri told reporters on Tuesday that they received a complaint from the Sangrur resident in which it has been alleged that police stopped the private vehicle during checking which was going from Sangrur to Ghaziabad carrying two oxygen cylinders.

    “The complainant has alleged that police held up his vehicle during checking due to which there was alleged delay in supplying oxygen cylinders to the patient leading to his death. In this regard, Jind DIG (O P Narwal) has ordered a probe,” she said.

    “Further investigations are in progress and further action will be taken as per the facts which emerge,” she said.

    Also, Virendra, the in-charge of the police outpost, described the allegations by the Punjab resident as baseless.

    He said, “The car with a Punjab number plate was stopped at night, in which two oxygen cylinders were found.”

    “The driver could not show the required papers on the spot. He was later released at night upon showing the necessary papers,” the policeman said.

    Jind DSP Khatri pointed out that daily night curfew is in place and there are government instructions in place to check if there is any black marketing of oxygen cylinders or hoarding due to which checking of vehicles is routinely done.

  • COVID crisis: Bullets fired during group clash at Gujarat oxygen refilling unit

    By PTI
    BHUJ: A man fired three bullets from his revolver in the ground during a clash between two groups who had assembled for refilling oxygen cylinders at a plant in Gujarat’s Kutch district, police said on Tuesday.

    The incident occurred on Monday night after some persons got agitated over a vehicle blocking the way to an oxygen refilling plant in Mota Chirai village near Bhachau town and clashed with another group of people waiting at the outlet, they said.

    During the clash, a man, identified as Rajbha Jadeja, took out a revolver and fired three rounds in the ground to intimidate people of the other group, a Bhachau police station official said.

    A police constable, who was at the site, moved quickly and brought the volatile situation under control, he said.

    The police official said people had assembled outside the plant of a private company that supplies oxygen to hospitals for treating coronavirus patients.

    An FIR was lodged against seven persons, two of them unnamed, at the Bhachau police station under various IPC sections, including 307 (attempt to murder) and 146 (rioting), and relevant provisions of the Arms Act and the Disaster Management Act (which is in force due to COVID-19 outbreak), he said.

    No arrest has been made yet and further investigation was underway, the official added.

  • ‘Medical oxygen production being ramped up to fight COVID-19 second wave’: Officials inform PM

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The production of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) has risen to 8,922 MT per day and is expected to cross 9,250 MT by the end of the month, the government said on Tuesday, noting that it was only 5,700 MT in August last year.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi was informed about the increasing production of the life-saving gas, whose shortage has been reported in several places amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, at a high-level meeting on Tuesday during which he asked officials to work closely with state governments to start PSA Oxygen plants at the earliest.

    In the meeting on the prevailing COVID-19 situation, Modi reviewed the availability of medical infrastructure and directed officials to ensure rapid upgradation of health facilities, the PMO said in a statement.

    Three empowered groups also made a presentation to the prime minister, it added.

    Modi was briefed about the functioning of the Oxygen Express Railways service as well as the domestic and international sorties undertaken by the Air Force to transport oxygen tankers.

    Officials also noted that they are encouraging states to also set up PSA oxygen plants.

    The empowered group working on the medical infrastructure and COVID-19 management briefed him on efforts being undertaken to ramp up the availability of beds and ICUs.

    They informed him on efforts to break the chain of transmission with Modi stressing the need to ensure that specific guidelines and strategies evolved regarding the COVID management needs to be properly implemented by relevant agencies in the states.

    “It was discussed that the production of LMO in the country has increased from 5700 MT/day in August 2020 to the present 8922 MT (on 25th April 2021). The domestic production of LMO is expected to cross 9250 MT/day by the end of April 2021,” the statement said.

  • Oxygen woes: 12 COVID-19 patients moved from Thane hospital

    By PTI
    THANE: At least 12 COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU of a private hospital in Thane city were on Tuesday shifted to other hospitals in view of depleting oxygen stock at the medical facility, a doctor said.

    Dr Harish Kedar, who runs the private hospital, told media persons that as the existing medical oxygen stock at his facility was fast getting exhausted, the management decided to shift the critical patients to other hospitals in the city.

    The hospital had around 40 COVID-19 patients of which 12 were in the ICU on oxygen support and were moved to other medical facilities in the morning as a proactive measure, he said.

    An official of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) confirmed the incident and said efforts were on to replenish oxygen stock at the hospital.

    He said a senior TMC officer was present at the oxygen suppliers location to monitor the process of getting a fresh stock of the life-saving gas used to treat critical COVID-19 patients.

    Meanwhile, Thane district Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday held a meeting to review the pandemic situation and availability of oxygen and Remdesivir injections in government and private hospitals.

    Talking to the media later, Shinde said he has asked the stake-holders to ensure hospital beds are made available to needy patients.

    The minister said there was a marginal drop in the number of new COVID-19 patients in the district but the administration was not taking any chances and preparing itself for any eventuality.

    Hospitals should conduct fire safety and oxygen storage and availability audits, Shinde said.

  • As Centre asks states to judiciously use oxygen, MP’s Khandwa Medical College model could be trendsetter

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: With the centre asking states to ensure judicious use of oxygen and reduce the waste of liquid medical oxygen at a time when the demand for oxygen is growing rapidly across the country due to the COVID-19 surge, the model of plausible usage of oxygen successfully adopted by the Government Medical College in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh could be the perfect trendsetter for all states.

    The Government Medical College in Khandwa district of MP (Khandwa is among the few districts of MP which have till date managed to control new COVID-19 cases) has put in place a successful model through which it has been able to judiciously use and save the scarce liquid medical oxygen.

    The medical college has put in place a mélange of best practices, spanning from correct identification and re-classification of patients as per oxygen requirement to segregating patients without oxygen need to separate floor and from monitoring the correct oxygen use based on actual need and forecasting the demand based on admitted patient requirement to the training of human resource as per sudden rise and corresponding change management.

    The five-floored Medical College hospital has monitored the correct oxygen use based on actual need and forecasting the demand based on admitted patient requirement.

    While patients needing no oxygen are admitted on the fifth floor and disconnected from direct pipeline, those admitted on the fourth floor (also disconnected from direct pipeline) are getting oxygen support between one to five liters per minute from oxygen Concentrators.

    On the third floor Type B cylinders/centralized oxygen supply (NBS) of one to 15 liters supply per minute is being ensured, while on the second floor centralized oxygen supply (ventilator/BiPAP/HFNC/NBS) is being ensured to reduce wastage of oxygen.

    According to Khandwa district collector Anay Dwivedi, the use of best and judicious practices have resulted in reducing the usage of oxygen from 100 cylinders per hour to 30 cylinders per hour, thus helping saving 70 cylinders per hour and 1800 cylinders in a day.

    “We even talked to the oxygen tanker drivers who told us that by lifting the tanker’s front wheel up to 1.5 ft, 300-350 kg more oxygen can be secured through the tank’s dead storage. We acted over it by first lifting the tanker’s front wheel by nine inches and managed to get 75 kg extra oxygen from the tank’s dead storage, which was enough to support the requirement of the hospital’s Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) for three additional days. We’re lifting the tankers by up to 1.5 ft by a wooden wedge, through which we’re able to get 300-350 kg extra oxygen, which is equal to three or more hours supply to our college,” Dwivedi added.

    “Line pressure, line and supply issues too are being studied by our engineers so that more and more liquid oxygen can be saved,” he maintained.

  • ‘Oxygen in any country cannot be unlimited, measures being taken’: Centre to SC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that medical oxygen in any country cannot be unlimited and with the active and constant supervision of the Prime Minister it is augmenting the oxygen supply on a war footing to provide relief to COVID-19 patients.

    The government said oxygen supplies available at any given time in the country are to be distributed to all the states, especially those which are critically burdened with high number of active COVID cases, in a balanced manner.

    The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the sheer magnitude of this unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases itself bring with it certain inbuilt limitations in terms of available resources which need to be professionally augmented and utilised.

    Further, the centre said to deal with shortage of medical oxygen, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is in the process of commissioning 162 PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption technology to generate oxygen at local level) plants across the country on a war footing.

    In its 200-page affidavit, filed in the suo motu case on distribution of essential supplies and services during Pandemic, the Centre said “any singular/isolated deviation in such plan for a particular State (either under a judicial order or otherwise) without keeping in mind the national availability and ever changing requirements of each State is bound to have a cascading effect on oxygen supply to other States”.

    The affidavit was taken on record by a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat, which posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.

    “It is also pertinent to note that the medical oxygen in any country cannot be unlimited. While the government started all out efforts to augment oxygen resources and procure more and more oxygen from all available sources, these supplies available at any given time in the country are to be distributed to all the states, especially those which are critically burdened with high number of active COVID cases, in a balanced manner,” the government said.

    It said, “The Central Government, with active and constant supervision and direct involvement of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, is augmenting the oxygen supply on a war footing evolving and implementing innovative measures”.

    The affidavit filed by additional secretary, MHA, said ever since the onset of the current wave of pandemic, there is an unprecedented and rapid rise in the number of active COVID cases in several states across the country with an almost unabated surge in the growth rate of such cases.

    “It is submitted that the medical oxygen is a critical component in the treatment of COVID affected patients, especially in the second wave. The entire available capacity of oxygen in India was utilised for supply for industrial as well as medical purposes in the form of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO),” it said.

    It said the “unexpected and exponential” surge in the number of active COVID cases across several States in the second wave has resulted in a scenario wherein there has been an increasing demand for medical oxygen, especially from the States with a high burden of active COVID cases.

    “It is pertinent to note that while the demand in Maharashtra is expected to be beyond available production capacity of the State, states like Madhya Pradesh do not have any production capacity to meet their demand for medical oxygen. Besides, there is also a trend of increasing demand in other oxygen producing states themselves”, the Centre said.

    It said to give clarity and assurance to the States on oxygen supplied over the next few weeks of surge in cases, an exercise for mapping of sources of supplies to the medical oxygen demand of the critically affected states was undertaken by different departments and States were requested to provide these progressive projections forecast for requirement for medical oxygen as on April 20, April 25 and April 30, respectively.

    “Accordingly, based on the aforesaid projected requirements of these critically affected states, 4880 MT, 5619 MT and 6593 MT were mapped in an indicative framework, for the supply of medical oxygen to these 12 States for meeting their projected demand as on 20th April, 25th April and 30th April, respectively and was duly approved vide order dated April 15, 2021,” it said.

    The centre, however, said by its very nature, this plan and mapping framework cannot be static as it needs to be dynamically changed if any sudden change takes place in the surge of infection in any particular State.

    It said after some apprehensions were raised by some States on disruption in supply of oxygen; the MHA has issued orders to the State /Union Territory governments and authorities to ensure uninterrupted movement of medical oxygen between the states.

    Regarding commissioning of PSA Plants, the Centre said that these plants established in hospitals, especially in far flung areas enable the hospitals to become self-sufficient in generation of oxygen for their needs and thereby, reduce the burden on the medical oxygen supply grid across the country.

    “It is submitted that 38 plants have already been installed and another 21 plants will be installed by April 30, 2021. A further 105 plants will be installed by May 31, 2021 and thereafter increasing to 156 plants by June 30, 2021. Besides, 500 more PSA plants are planned to be installed in the hospitals in district headquarters to enhance oxygen generation in smaller cities and towns,” it said.