Mismatch between O2 demand, consumption: K’taka govt data

While the state government maintains that its oxygen requirement is more than 1,700 MT, however, data provided by the government shows that the state’s consumption of oxygen for Covid-19 infected persons was around 723.86 kilo litre (KL) on May 9, registering a marginal increase from 700.74 KL recorded on May 6. While the data does indicate a marginal increase, it shows that there is a gross mismatch between the government’s claim on the state’s demand for oxygen and consumption.

“(The) Government of India has a norm and as per that norm Karnataka’s requirement is more than 1,700MT. However, a minimum of 1,200MT immediately will help. Especially, if it’s allotted from within Karnataka,” Munish Moudgil, senior IAS officer and nodal officer for oxygen supplies in the state said. The demand for oxygen in Karnataka is in excess of 1,700 MT out of which the Centre has increased its allocation to around 1,015 MT, according to a statement from the chief minister’s office (CMO).

While addressing a press meet on Thursday, chief minister Yediyurappa said, “Centre increased our oxygen supply from 965 MT to 1015 MT. We are getting 765 MT within the state. We are trying to get oxygen from other states as well.”

“We have got 100 tons from Kuwait, 400 tons from Bahrain and 120 tons from Jamshedpur. We have installed 120 oxygen plants”, the chief minister said.

“Under the chairmanship of Dr Devi Shetty, a task force has been formed to tackle the third wave of Covid-19”, the CM said.

According to a a oxygen guidelines document of the state government, released on May 9, the actual supply of oxygen is lower than the allocations.

“The oxygen supply quantities have not increased; but the hospitals in the districts & BBMP are increasing their consumption beyond supplies by increasing oxygenated beds. This is the core reason for hospitals running out of oxygen. This is unsustainable. The consumption has to remain within the available supplies,” the guidelines stated.

Moudgil said that buffer oxygen stocks (are) being built at each district to handle any unforeseen shortages.

While the government continues to demand for a higher allocation of oxygen, the consumption data shows that the state may have more than it requires to deal with the raging Covid-19 pandemic which continues to have a tightening grip on all 30 districts of the southern state and in Bengaluru.

“There is a norm in which 20% of the patients will require oxygen, 17% will require ordinary oxygen at the rate of 10 litres per minute, 3% of patients in ICU will require at least 24 litres per minute. So if you calculate it based on the number of active cases it comes to around 1700 MT. That is the normal basis to calculate the demand,” said one senior government official, aware of the developments. The other way to calculate is our minimum requirement demand comes closer to state’s utilisation of around 1250 MT, the official cited above said, requesting not to be named.

Officials said that there is an effort to ensure appropriate use of oxygen to avoid wastage.

The data comes days after at least 24 lives were snuffed out in Chamarajanagar district, about 175 kms from Bengaluru, after severe shortage of oxygen.

The mismatch adds to the growing lack of transparency from the BS Yediyurappa-led government that has been accused of ignoring warnings in November by a state-appointed technical advisory committee (TAC) to increase preparedness for the imminent second wave of infections. The state is also facing severe crunch of oxygenated beds, life-saving medicines and vaccines, suspending the inoculation drive for persons in the 18-44 age group as well other groups.

“We are consuming around 26 KL per day and we have an allocation of 22KL. We are managing the rest on our own,” said a senior official from the Belagavi district administration, requesting not to be named.

The official said that there was no room to create a buffer due to the increasing demand for oxygen amid the raging pandemic. While the positivity and fatality rate remains alarming across Karnataka, it has shown some signs of plateauing in certain regions like Bengaluru. However, there has been a sharp spike in cases in other districts where the healthcare infrastructure is far more inadequate than the capital, leaving it more vulnerable to the rise in cases.