Gurgaon: With a large number of critical Covid patients being added to the tally every day, the state’s oxygen production is struggling to meet the high demand.
Haryana has four plants that together produce 272 metric tonnes of oxygen daily, according to Narender Ahuja, state drug controller. “Air Liquide Ltd in Panipat generates 260 metric tonnes of oxygen daily while three in Hisar – Jindal Steel Ltd, Gupta Oxygen and Gupta Industrial — produce 7 metric tonnes, 3.2 metric tonnes and 2.5 metric tonnes, respectively,” he added.
Ahuja said as per the central government’s orders, the state’s allocation is 107 metric tonnes, including 80 metric tonnes from Air Liquide, 7 metric tonnes from Jindal Steel ltd and 20 metric tonnes from Inox, which is located in Barotiwala, Himachal Pradesh. Of the remaining 165 metric tonnes, Haryana supplies 140 metric tonnes to Delhi, 20 metric tonnes to Punjab and 5 metric tonnes to UP.
According to experts, a critical Covid patient on oxygen support requires 30-60 litres of oxygen a day. These days, the demand has doubled in hospitals across the state. For instance, in Gurgaon, it has shot up from 6-7 metric tonnes last week to 12-14 metric tonnes. Haryana, which earlier had a demand for less than 30 metric tonnes, now needs 60 metric tonnes.
Private hospitals in the city said they are facing an acute shortage. “We are living one day at a time, with 24 hours of oxygen at any given time. It is leading to huge stress on the medical staff. They are getting demoralised as patient care is adversely affected,” said an official at Artemis Hospital.
While the demand for oxygen remains high, several factors like storage, bottling, kits, cylinders and other necessary infrastructure come into play as well, as the official pointed out. “Refilling with liquid O2 is a challenge for continuous supply. Even oxygen cylinders are not available,” he told TOI.
Till recently, the city’s major hospitals were getting oxygen from Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, but the plant has stopped the supply. The district administration said it was working to streamline the process.
“We have set up oxygen-generating plants in six districts — Faridabad, Sonipat, Karnal, Ambala, Panchkula and Hisar. Four of these are ready and all will be able to function within the next two days. As these plants can produce oxygen for 200 beds in a day, it will give some relief,” Ahuja said.
While Gurgaon deputy commissioner Yash Garg said the district will get 10 metric tonnes of oxygen from a private player, drug control officer Amandeep Chauhan said a tanker, with 22 metric tonnes of oxygen, is on its way from Panipat.
When asked about filling up oxygen cylinders of smaller hospitals, Chauhan said, “We have the capacity to fill more than 400 oxygen cylinders that can last 12 hours, but we don’t have empty cylinders to give to hospitals.”
Meanwhile, family members of many Covid patients faced a nightmare as hospitals referred critical cases to other facilities. “I was told by a hospital they don’t have adequate oxygen and are referring my father to a government centre. He is very critical. I don’t know how long he can survive,” said Anil Upadhaya, a resident of Sector 47.
Kaushik Pandey, whose family member has Covid, said, “Patients are being asked to move around in the city in an ambulance. Who is going to take responsibility if something happens to them?”