Kerala in need of more oxygen, CM tells PM
TRIVANDRUM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has writen another leter in a week to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his help to make more liquid medical oxygen available for his state.
He said the oxygen situation in the southern state was precarious even as the federally regulated Kerala manufacturers continue to cater to hospitals in other states.
Of the combined capacity of 219 metric tonnes a day, Inox Air Products makes more than three-fourths while the state-owned Kerala Minerals and Metals produces just 7 MT.
Federal entities like shipbuilder Kochi Shipyard and oil and gas major Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) together contribute around 50 metric tonnes.
The state’s hospitals are heavily dependent on the manufacturing facility of India’s leading industrial gas company Inox in the Palakkad district for their oxygen requirements.
A doctor working at a leading private hospital in the state capital, who wished not to reveal his name, said they had to restrict admissions ater running out of oxygen.
“I had to wait long at the “oxygen war room” here to manage a couple of cylinders,” he told Gulf Today.
“Most of the patients are those aged between 30 and 50. The situation is geting worse by the day and I fear we are also going the way of other states.”
In his leter to Modi, Vijayan said Kerala was “witnessing a major surge.”
The number of active cases has crossed 438,000.
“In the second wave of the pandemic, the state is witnessing a significant increase in the number of patients who require critical care including oxygen support,” he said.
He reminded Modi that Kerala is under a cyclonic storm warning now and there may be disruptions in electricity supply to oxygen generation plants and filling stations. There can also be disruptions in transport which would impede the timely oxygen supply necessary to save precious lives. Kerala reported 39,955 new cases with a test- positivity rate of 28.61 per cent while it confirmed 97 more deaths, taking the total fatalities to 6,150 officially.
“At present, the storage of oxygen in hospitals is only for less than 24 hours,” Vijayan said in the leter.