‘Govt working overtime to smoothen oxygen supply, Remdesivir orders placed’: Bihar health minister

The minister said that 1,200 vials of Remdesivir have been received while the government has already ordered 50,000 more.

Amid a shortage of medical oxygen and Remdesivir anti-viral drug reported from various parts of Bihar, including capital city Patna, state health minister Mangal Pandey on Monday said efforts were underway to ensure adequate supplies and the situation is being monitored daily.

File photo: A medic conducts Covid-19 testing. (PTI)

“We are increasing the supply of oxygen but the situation is still not such that the private hospitals could keep stock. Our priority is to ensure regular daily supply. Some of the hospitals want to keep stock but that is not possible at present as the demand is growing everywhere in the country. No forecasts can be made about the pandemic which has stumped us all,” said Pandey.

The minister said that three tankers of liquid oxygen had arrived on Saturday, followed by five on Sunday and seven are likely to arrive by Monday evening. He said the administration is expecting a further increase in the demand in the days to come.

“There is no fixed requirement at present. A requirement of a patient for eight litres of oxygen could drop to four litres or increase to 16 litres from morning to evening. The number of patients in hospitals also varies. But we are doing everything possible to ensure the supply of oxygen. The oxygen plants at the PMCH, NMCH and DMCH are also functional but they too have a limited capacity of 40-50 cylinders,” he added.

The minister said that efforts were also underway to ensure the supply of Remdesivir. “I have also urged Union chemical and fertilizer minister Mansukh Mandaviya for some extra procurement for Bihar and he has assured all help. I am also directly in touch with the companies producing Remdesivir. The centre has already capped the price, stopped export and given permission for doubling production. All this will work,” he added.

The minister said that 1,200 vials of Remdesivir have been received while the government has already ordered 50,000 more through the Bihar medical services and infrastructure corporation Limited (BMSICL). “The supplies are also regulated as it is provided only on doctors’ prescription and Aadhaar Card,” he added, ruling out any possibility of black marketing due to limited and regulated supply.

The acting superintendent of the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), Dr Vinod Kumar Singh, wrote to the health department last week to relieve him of the additional charge due to a shortage of oxygen cylinders in the state’s first dedicated Covid hospital. However, since then, the situation has improved at the NMCH, which now plans to increase the number of beds.

While Singh wrote about the oxygen shortage, many other hospitals in the state capital are battling a huge shortage of oxygen and ventilators. Many private hospitals in Patna also discharged patients due to lack of oxygen or pasted notice that they could discharge patients if the stocks don’t arrive in time. Those who can afford are also taking patients to Delhi by air ambulance.

Many suppliers of oxygen cylinders are also at their wit’s end, as those taking cylinders are not returning. “We were providing oxygen cylinders to the needy on a humanitarian basis. We had 42 cylinders and all have gone and now nobody is returning as they fear they would not get it again if they require it. We cannot supply to others,” said Sanjeev Deora of Marwari Seva Samiti.

One of the biggest private hospitals in Patna, Ruban Hospital, is also facing the heat with a huge rush of patients. “We increased our capacity to 160 beds but we have 175 patients. For oxygen supply, the administration had been helping us but we lack ventilators as most of the patients reach here in critical condition. We have just 40. I have urged even the central authorities to arrange ventilators or divert from those places where they are lying unused. Now, oxygen cylinders are also in short supply while the number of patients is spiralling,” said Dr Satyajeet Singh, proprietor of the hospital.