On the 16th of April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reviewed oxygen and beds availability for the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 patients in India.
The meeting was scheduled at a time, when the Nation reported a massive rise in the infection and shortage of beds and oxygen at hospitals. The meeting also took a toll on the status of adequate supply of medical grade oxygen to states and union territories. According to an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO,) the meeting was attended by state/UT ministries, Health Department officials, Department for Production of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) officials and other concerned officials.
PM Narendra Modi took a detailed review of the current situation of oxygen supply and projected use in the coming 15 days across 12 high burden states. The high burden states include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. These states received 4,880 MT, 5,619 MT and 6,593 MT for meeting their projected demand for the 20th April 20, the 25th of April and 30th of April, respectively.
During the meeting, Mr. Narendra Modi also was briefed about production capacity in India to meet the rising demand of oxygen. It was discussed that surplus stocks of oxygen supply in steel plants will be offered for medical use. PM Modi also urged officials to ensure seamless and free movement of tankers carrying oxygen across the Country. In regard to this, the Central Government also exempted all interstate movement of oxygen tankers from registration of permits to enable easier movement.
The Central Government even asked the states and transporters to ensure tankers move round the clock with drivers working in shifts. This would ensure faster turnaround and adequate capacity to meet the surge in demand. Cylinder filling plants would also have been permitted 24 hour working with necessary safeguards. In addition, the Central Government is also allowing industrial cylinders to be used for medical oxygen after due purging. Similarly, nitrogen and argon tankers would also be automatically allowed to be converted to oxygen tankers to overcome the potential shortage of tankers.
The PMO released a statement regarding the same, which read, “The government is allowing Industrial cylinders to be used for medical oxygen after due purging. Similarly, nitrogen and argon tankers will be automatically allowed to be converted to oxygen tankers to overcome the potential shortage of tankers(sic.)”
Officers also briefed PM Modi about the efforts being made to import medical grade oxygen.
Meanwhile, India added a new record of 2,17,353 COVID-19 single day cases. With this, the total tally of COVID-19 stands at 1,42,91,917, while active cases surpassed the 15 lakh mark till the 16th of April.
