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Karnataka needs 1,500 tonne oxygen daily: Health minister
Bengaluru: As the Covid-19 cases in the state are on the rise, the Karnataka government has said that it urgently requires 1,500 tonnes of medical oxygen on a daily basis to treat patients in state-run and private hospitals
Bengaluru: As the Covid-19 cases in the state are on the rise, the Karnataka government has said that it urgently requires 1,500 tonnes of medical oxygen on a daily basis to treat patients in state-run and private hospitals. Karnataka health minister on Friday retreated that the government has written to the central government on Wednesday putting for their demand.
Talking about the situation in the state, the minister said there is a need for even though the state has been allotted 300 tonnes, the current requirement has doubled to 600 tonnes. “We are requesting for 1,500 tonnes since we think the requirement for oxygen will increase in May,” he said.
Adding that the Karnataka government also set up a control room to monitor the supply of oxygen cylinders, he said there is no shortage of oxygen in the state and proactive measures are being taken by the state. “We have deployed 26 officials to operate the control room and a call centre with a mobile number (89517-55722) for the supply of oxygen and Remdesivir to hospitals. The process is now streamlined,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr HM Prasanna, president of Private Hospitals and Nursing Home Associations (PHANA), said that he had submitted a list of 56 hospital facing a severe shortage of oxygen. “There are hospitals from Bengaluru, Kalaburagi, Ballari and other places in this list. We feel there is an issue with oxygen supply not reaching the vendors who refill oxygen,” he said.
On Saturday, Bangalore Institute of Gastroenterology (BIG) in Jayanagar had to transfer out three of the eight COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital after their oxygen supply ran out. On the same day, St. Philomena Hospital in Vivek Nagar also reported a shortage of oxygen supply, however, they were able to replenish the stock by evening.
However, minister Sudhakar said that there is no shortage of oxygen in the state and there was a problem with storage, especially at the smaller hospitals. “Many hospitals, especially the smaller ones, don’t have enough storage facilities. They are mostly storing oxygen in small cylinders, and they have a requirement to refill multiple times in a day, this is leading a shortage,” said Sudhakar.
He added that JSW has agreed to give 400 tonnes of oxygen for Karnataka and the state is procuring 5,000 cylinders to cater for the oxygen needs.
Talking about the black market in the state, he added that The Health Department on Wednesday initiated action against Assistant Drugs Controller BR Venkatesh and placed him under suspension for creating artificial scarcity of the vital drug.
On Friday, Bengaluru reported 16, 662 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total active cases to 1,49,624. The state also reported 124 deaths, which is the highest single-day death toll so far.
