Medical oxygen demand likely to shoot up to 150 MT in 2 weeks: Punjab to HC

Punjab has a storage capacity of 300 metric tonnes and daily consumption recorded as on April 20 was around 110 MT

The Punjab government on Thursday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that even as central government has failed to provide promised medical oxygen to Punjab, the demand for the same is likely to shoot up by 40 metric tonnes in next two weeks.

Medical oxygen demand likely to shoot up to 150 MT in 2 weeks: Punjab to HC

Health secretary, Punjab, Kumar Rahul told court that Punjab has a storage capacity of 300 metric tonnes and daily consumption recorded as on April 20 was around 110 MT. It is expected to rise to around 150 MT in next two weeks as per projections of case load and this could increase further given the way the Covid upsurge is, the court was told, adding that daily availability of medical oxygen as of now was 115 MT and to meet the demand in view of surge has become a challenge as state does not have a plant of its own.

There is disruption of supply of oxygen in few districts as Centre has not been able to supply promised 126 MT, it has told court, adding that government has written to Centre to ensure that it gets 120 MT supply.

The information was given during resumed hearing of a plea in which the high court is monitoring the Covid-19 outbreak situation in both the states and Chandigarh. The government has also said that bed occupancy in the state has gone up to 50% due to Covid surge. The state has 7,525 level-II oxygen beds and 2,064 intensive care unit beds with around 1,000 ventilators, it added.