Centre's Response On Oxygen Availability, Allocation And Demand

To address the surge in pressing demand for liquid medical oxygen, a key component to treat the critically ill COVID-19 patients, the central government on Monday outlined the key measures it has taken to increase the availability, streamline the distribution and strengthen the oxygen storage infrastructure in the country.

The devastating second wave of infections and the threat from a mutating virus has left India grappling for oxygen and medicines.

Several states, hit hard by the virus, have sent as SOS to the centre seeking expedited delivery of oxygen supplies.

"As the second wave of pandemic spread to other states, demand for oxygen increased from other states. The formula of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was used to estimate Oxygen requirement for each state in line with the active cases in the state, and maximum efforts were made to align oxygen allocation to the estimated demand for each state. Other factors such as availability of hospital infrastructure including ICU beds were also taken into account while finalising allocation," the government said on the critical question of oxygen allocation.

It said there is a mismatch between producing and consuming states, and equity among states is to be maintained. The government noted that one-third of the production is concentrated in East India, while the 60 per cent of demand for oxygen is in north and south India, resulting in transportation challenge.

The Railways has delivered nearly 42,00 MT of oxygen in more than 268 tankers to various states across the country, it said.

A web and app-based Oxygen Digital Tracking System (ODTS) has been launched to enable real time tracking of oxygen movement in the country, it further added.

"Oxygen production has increased from 5700 MT/day in Aug'20 to 9,446 MT/day in May'21. The production capacity has increased from 6817 MT/ day to 7314 MT/day, and capacity
utilization has gone up from 84% to 129% during this period," said the government.

Steel companies, the centre said, from both the public and private sectors, have stepped up efforts to meet the nation's requirement of medical oxygen.

The government said that the sale of medical oxygen in the country has also increased from about 1,300 metric tonnes a day in March to 8,920 metric tonnes on May 6. It said during the first wave of COVID-19, the maximum sale of 3095 metric tonnes was seen on September 29.

"The sale of LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen) grew more than five-fold from 1559 MT/day on March 31, 2021 to over 8000 MT mark by 3rd May, 2021," it said.

To meet the shortfall in demand, 50,000 MT of liquid oxygen is being imported, with orders and delivery schedule for 5,800 MT finalised, it said, adding that the Ministry of External Affairs is actively working in securing sources of oxygen from abroad.

Procurement of 1 lakh oxygen concentrators, a medical device that concentrates oxygen from ambient air - has been sanctioned under PM Cares Fund on April 27, it said.