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Won’t be able to send oxygen to others, Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan tells PM Modi
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s decision to stop supplying oxygen would impact states such as Tamil Nadu which had been allocated 40 MT daily by a central panel on oxygen supply.
Kerala will not be able to spare oxygen for its neighbouring states due to a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 patients in the state, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
“In view of the rapidly rising cases, it will be difficult for the state to meet demands of other states. So the state should be allowed to procure all 150 metric tonne produced at Kanjikode plant (in Palakkad),” Pinarayi Vijayan said in his letter to PM Modi.
Kerala’s main oxygen producing unit run by a private company, Inox Air Products, was also catering to demand for oxygen in two neighbouring states, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Pinarayi Vijayan said Kerala has been sending 40 metric tonnes of oxygen to Tamil Nadu daily in line with the directions of the central committee on oxygen pool.
Vijayan said this would have to stop in view of the surge in Covid cases in Kerala.
In the last 24 hours, according to the state government, Kerala has reported 27,487 fresh Covid cases, leading the active caseload to rise to 4,19,726. This is the third highest, next only to Maharashtra and Karnataka. Kerala’s 14 districts have reported a test positivity rate (TPR) of 26.5%.
Pinarayi Vijayan, who had been reluctant to restrict movement in the state, reluctantly ordered a week-long lockdown till May 16 due to the spike in Covid cases.
The chief minister told reporters that Kerala’s active Covid cases are estimated to cross 600,000 by next week and estimated that the state would need 450 MT to meet the demand from patients in the state.
Kerala has been an oxygen surplus state and helped other states meet the growing demand for oxygen. It needed just about 80 MT but produced about 219 MT in big and small units. But this was before a virulent strain of the Covid started spreading in the state. Pinarayi Vijayan said the increase in cases had already led its buffer stock to dip to 86 MT.
Instead, Vijayan asked PM Modi to send more cryogenic tankers to transport oxygen to hospitals and Covid centres in the state. The chief minister last week had asked PM Modi to help the state with imported oxygen concentrators and ventilators.
At the same time, Pinarayi Vijayan said the state government has also started a vigorous exercise to check oxygen wastage. As part of this exercise, technical teams will visit all generating and filling stations.
“There is no let up in the situation. In 72 panchayats, the TPR is above 50% and in 300, it is above 30%. Cases are surging in Kannur, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram districts. We have to strengthen lockdown to keep fatality down,” Vijayan said.
Kerala has, however, managed to control the number of deaths. Despite a high load of active cases, the state has the lowest case fatality rates due to Covid-19 in the country: 0.4% against the national average of 1.4%. Experts have mostly attributed the lower fatality rate to the state’s health infrastructure.
Pinarayi Vijayan said his government will strengthen it further and hire more doctors, nurses and paramedical staff and ask retired health workers to return to work. The jail department has released 560 prisoners on parole in line with the Supreme Court’s orders to control its spread in jails.
