New Delhi: Asking people not to panic over the availability of medical oxygen, the Centre asserted Monday that India has enough stock of the life-saving gas. The Centre said the key issue of its transportation to high-demand areas witnessing mounting COVID-19 cases was being addressed in the best possible way, even by roping in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Addressing a media briefing here, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Piyush Goyal highlighted the efforts that have been undertaken by the government in providing oxygen to hospitals in areas with high COVID-19 cases at the earliest.
“Ghabrayen nahin, panic mat karen (Don’t worry, don’t panic). We have enough stock of oxygen. The issue is transportation. It is a major challenge which we are trying to resolve by active involvement of all stakeholders,” said Goyal.
“There is absolutely no need to panic for oxygen as we are trying to resolve the issue of oxygen transportation from the producing states to high-demand areas. The oxygen producing states are mainly located in eastern and central India. They are far from the states where oxygen demand is high,” added Goyal.
Twenty people died at Delhi’s Jaipur Golden Hospital last Saturday, their lives ebbing as the hospital waited for oxygen to be replenished. Last week, hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs, including Ganga Ram and Max Healthcare as well as smaller facilities, sounded the alarm about dwindling stocks on social media and other platforms. Desperate for help, some hospitals approached the Delhi High Court, which termed the mounting cases a tsunami.
Goyal said that since it was not possible to ferry oxygen-filled tankers by air, the Indian Air Force transport planes were pressed into service to airlift empty containers to reduce the turn-around time from 4-5 days to 1-2 hours.
He said special trains are being run for faster movement of oxygen tankers and since Friday, the Home Ministry has been coordinating efforts to deploy empty tankers and containers in various filling stations across India to speed up its distribution.
Goyal informed the central government is also monitoring the movement of oxygen-carrying tankers on real-time basis through GPS and making them available to the hospitals at the shortest possible time. He said states have been told to advise the hospitals for judicious use of oxygen and to plug leakage, if any.
The minister said that the government is also getting cryogenic tanks from countries like Singapore and the UAE to transport oxygen, and sourcing oxygen concentrators from the United States.
Also, Goyal said, security is being given to oxygen-carrying tankers besides providing ‘green corridors’ for faster movement.
Meanwhile, a day after putting a ban on the use of liquid oxygen for non-medical purposes, the government Monday allowed three sectors – ampoules and vials, pharmaceutical and defence forces – to use the commodity.