Why is India facing a deadly oxygen crisis amid rising COVID? | Coronavirus pandemic News

The huge rise in coronavirus infections has revealed India’s deteriorating health infrastructure and chronic oxygen shortages – a key treatment for seriously ill COVID-19 patients.

While India’s huge oxygen shortage is battling a tough new wave, it is leading to unprofitable rises, even as some young volunteers are making an effort to help people on social media.

Here are the reasons for the shortage:

Why is medical oxygen essential?

Oxygen therapy is essential for severe COVID-19 patients with hypoxemia when blood oxygen levels are too low.

“Several clinical studies show that a quarter of hospitalized (COVID-19) patients require oxygen therapy and more than two-thirds of intensive care units,” Rajib Dasgupta, a community health specialist, told AFP.

“That’s why it’s imperative to fix oxygen supply systems in hospitals because it’s a disease that mainly affects the lungs.”

Experts have long sparked pneumonia from medical oxygen shortages in India and other poor countries to treat pneumonia, the world’s largest preventive killer of children under five.

Experts say the government has not invested enough money in such infrastructure over the years.

Does India produce enough oxygen?

Short answer: yes.

Experts say a vast nation of 1.3 billion people produce enough oxygen – just over 7,000 tons a day. Most are for industrial use, but can be diverted for medical purposes.

The bottles are in transport and storage.

At very low temperatures liquid oxygen must be transported in cryogenic containers to the distributors, which are then converted into gas to fill the cylinders.

But India lacks cryogenic oil. Such special tanks, when filled, must be transported by road and not by air for safety reasons.

Most oxygen producers are located in eastern India, and there has been rising demand in cities such as Mumbai financial center in the west and New Delhi capital in the north.

“The supply chain needs to be adjusted to move medical oxygen from regions with oversupply to regions that need more supply,” Siddharth Jain, head of one of India’s largest medical oxygen suppliers to Inox Air Products, told Siddharth Jain.

Meanwhile, many hospitals do not have any oxygen plants, often due to poor infrastructure, lack of specialization and high costs.

Late last year, India held tenders for local oxygen plants for hospitals. But the plans were never carried out, local media reported.

What is done?

The government is importing mobile oxygen generation plants and cisterns, building more than 500 new plants and buying portable oxygen concentrators.

The government has ordered the industry not to use liquid oxygen.

Oxygen supply is being transported to the affected regions using special train services.

The military has also been mobilized to transport cisterns and other supplies, both internationally and from international sources.

Emergency medical supplies – including liquid oxygen, cryogenic tanks, concentrators and fans – come from other countries with great relief efforts.

What is going on on the ground?

Oxygen shortages still affect high-risk regions despite measures to boost supply, transportation and storage.

Reports have appeared that hospitals are asking patients to organize their cylinders and people who die even after being hospitalized due to low oxygen.

Social media platforms are filled with messages from desperate families looking for cylinders and refills.

Meanwhile, the black market is growing for cylinders and concentrators that sell above conventional retail prices.

The shortage has sparked anger and frustration in New Delhi.

“The government did not plan ahead of time,” sales director Prabhat Kumar told AFP.

“If it had been prepared, we wouldn’t have had to suffer like that to get beds and oxygen.”