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Oxygen SOS: How states are tackling crippling crisis amid Covid-19 surge
The Central health ministry increased the allocation of liquid medical oxygen to several states in the past week since the demand for the life-saving gas spiked.
Various state governments continue to send emergency help messages to the Union health ministry for medical oxygen as hospitals report running at capacity, unable to tackle the surge in Covid-19 patients, officials said.
The Central health ministry increased the allocation of liquid medical oxygen to several states in the past week since the demand for the life-saving gas spiked in most states due to the increase in Covid-19 cases. Some states said the quota of oxygen provided to them was not enough.
In Meerut, family members of patients went on a rampage, damaging furniture, monitors, at Nutema hospital on Sunday after five Covid-19 affected patients allegedly died due to low pressure of oxygen during the treatment.
"We have formed a committee to investigate the matter and action would be initiated on the findings of the committee," said district magistrate K Balaji, adding that the administration was providing oxygen cylinders to the hospitals.
Dr Manisha Tyagi, secretary of district unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said it was the third hospital where family members went on a rampage after their patients were denied admission due to heavy load in the hospital or some died due to paucity of oxygen.
In Agra also, family members of patients thrashed hospital staff when the supply of oxygen got disrupted. Reports of oxygen shortage were received from several other districts in Uttar Pradesh such as Noida, Lucknow, Bareilly, Agra and Varanasi but the officials said there was no panic.
In Haryana, there were reports of oxygen shortage from some hospitals in Gurugram, Rohtak and Karnal but districts did not report any shortage. The state's quota has been increased from 162 million tonnes per day to 257 million tonnes, however, the state government is demanding 300 MT every day. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khatter said all districts were being provided oxygen as per their requirement.
According to locals, patients in Rohtak were struggling to find oxygen and ICU beds at the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, and at various private hospitals in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Hisar, Rewari and other parts of the region.
Neeraj Kumar, a resident of Kathura village in Sonepat, said he tried to get an oxygen bed for his father, a retired army personnel, for three days. “Despite all efforts, we did not get a bed in Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat. Finally, my father’s friends helped in getting a bed at the army hospital, Ambala, where he is undergoing treatment,” he added. A functionary at the PGIMS said all oxygen and ICU beds are occupied and they are unable to admit new patients.
In Bihar, the state government has approved Oxygen Production Policy 2021 providing financial assistance for establishing oxygen manufacturing plants as several hospitals continued to report a shortage of the crucial gas. Bihar has been allotted 194 MT of medical oxygen every day which was increased to 214 MT on May 2. Out of this, 34 MT is to be obtained from the Air Separation Units (ASU) functional in the state whereas the rest is to come from industrial units in neighbouring Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The West Bengal government did not report any shortage of oxygen. "There is no shortage of oxygen in hospitals in West Bengal. Around 105 hospitals up to the sub-division level have been equipped with piped oxygen. We have 12,500 such beds where patients can receive round the clock oxygen supply," said West Bengal health secretary NS Nigam.
Seven districts in Jharkhand had informed the state government about the oxygen shortage. In Ranchi, some private hospitals stopped taking patients as very little oxygen was left. In Jamshedpur, hospitals stopped admission of new patients despite having vacant Covid-19 beds for want of oxygen, officials said.
In Rajasthan, several hospitals reported a shortage of oxygen including Sania Hospital, the biggest private hospital in Alwar. On Monday, the hospital put a notice asking patients to arrange for oxygen themselves as they did not receive the supply.
Behror resident Ved Prakash Gupta, whose brother Hitesh Gupta is admitted to the hospital, said the hospital administration told them that the hospital has no medical oxygen left, hence they should take the patients to some other hospital. Another person, Sachin Sharma, came all the way from Uttar Pradesh to get his sister-in-law treated at the hospital.
Sania Hospital's CEO, Dr Tayyab Khan said the hospital has received 10 oxygen cylinders from the district administration as against the requirement of 150 every day. Behroro MLA, Sanjay Sharma they were trying to get oxygen for the hospital.
The Madhya Pradesh government officials said the state requires about 700 MT oxygen but was getting 564 MT. In absence of enough oxygen, officials said, they are not able to increase the number of oxygen beds in high Covid influx cities such as Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Ujjain and Jabalpur. Many private hospitals are not admitting new patients as there is no certainty about the oxygen supply.
State health commissioner Akash Tripathi said the private hospitals have been told to do a daily audit of oxygen consumption and inform the district administration about the shortage of oxygen at least 6 hours in advance so that necessary arrangements can be made on time. As per reports, close to 60 Covid 19 infected patients admitted to hospitals died due to a shortage of oxygen in the past week.
There were reports of no oxygen shortage from hospitals in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said more oxygen tankers would be available to the state by Tuesday to transport oxygen supplies from other states. Punjab has a 195 MT allocation from various plants in other states but the actual supply over the past 7 days has been around 110-120 MT daily, which has also been erratic, the CM said during a Covid-19 review meeting.
J&K LG Manoj Sinha on Sunday directed officials to conduct an oxygen audit in every hospital of the UT. Himachal Pradesh government has ordered installation plants at the primary hospitals of the state even though the state has 62 MT of oxygen as against the demand of 22 MT, said state health secretary Amitabh Awasthi, adding that the state was facing a shortage of empty oxygen cylinders.
Uttarakhand health secretary Amit Negi said six oxygen plants are operating and nine more will be set up soon.
Chhattisgarh has not witnessed any shortage of oxygen in the state till now. As per health department officials, the state produces 380 MT of oxygen per day and the demand of the state is around 170-175 MT daily. The state is supplying around 230 MT to other states including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, officials said.
