Rajasthan govt to Centre: Supply 100KL of oxygen for Covid patients

JAIPUR: After exploiting all available options, the state government has now requested the Centre to supply 100 kilolitres (KL) of oxygen daily for treatment of Covid patients.
The oxygen is needed for High flow nasal cannula (HFNC), a type of therapy useful for Covid patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Over the last 15 days, the demand for oxygen has shot up significantly. Existing oxygen refilling plants in some government hospitals having capacity of 35 to 90 cylinders per day are proving insufficient. According to health department officials, the demand has doubled now compared to 15 days ago. The overall demand for oxygen in hosptials, which was 4,000 to 4,500 cylinders around 15 days ago , now has increased to 8,000 to 9,000 cylinders.
“During a video conferencing two days ago, we told the Centre about increasing demand of oxygen in hospitals for Covid treatment. We have demanded 100KL oxygen, which is equivalent to 8,500 cylinders, daily for patients,” said Naresh Thakral, National Health Mission (mission director), health department.
As on September 14), 486 Covid patients in government hospitals and 659 patients in private hospital were underging treatment with oxygen support. Each patient on oxygen support requires at least five cylinders daily, health department officials claimed. Apart from Covid patients on HFNC, there are other patients on ventilators undergoing treatment for other ailments.
The state government has asked firms producing oxygen for medical and industrial purposes to provide more oxygen for medical use. In the state, 24 firms are producing 12,000 oxygen cylinders daily. Out of the 12,000, the state government was getting 4,000 to 5,000 cylinders for medical purposes in hospitals and rest 7,000 to 8,000 was used in industries.
But, now 6,000 cylinders are being supplied to hospitals and 6,000 cylinders to industries. The state government cannot increase the share of oxygen for medical use further as it will affect industries, which is why, the state government has appealed to the Centre to provide 100KL oxygen daily.
Dealing with increasing demand, the state government has directed a firm in Bhiwadi, which was not supplying oxygen for medical use to the state government earlier, to supply two to three tankers of oxygen daily. Each tanker has a capacity of 1,700 cylinders.
Besides, private hospitals and nursing homes society (PHNHS) claimed that a patient on high flow oxygen requires at least 11 cylinders of oxygen daily. “Earlier, the cost of one cylinder was Rs 375 but the suppliers increased it to Rs 550 per cylinder, which is almost 40% more than the earlier prices,” said Dr Vijay Kapoor, secretary PHNHS.
While the demand for oxygen has increased, Jaipur Medical Association (JMA) president Dr Tarun Patni said, “The firms had increased the prices of oxygen by 40%. But, when we raised the voice, the government managed to bring it down slightly.”