COVID-19: Efforts on to help hospitals gasping for oxygen

A patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a Gurdwara in Ghaziabad on Monday. Pic/AFP

Efforts are underway to beef up the oxygen supply in the country, as hospitals are grappling with massive shortage of the life-saving gas amid a constant surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Air India brought 328 oxygen concentrators to India on its New York-Delhi flight on Monday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. "All efforts to strengthen India's fight against the pandemic are on. 318 Philips oxygen concentrators on @airindiain flight from JFK airport land at @DelhiAirport," Puri tweeted on Monday. A heavy-lift transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force was on Monday sent to Dubai to airlift seven empty cryogenic oxygen containers, officials said. "After loading, the aircraft will get airborne for Panagarh in West Bengal and is likely to arrive there at 5:30 pm," said an official. Tata Steel, meanwhile, said it has increased its daily oxygen supply limit to 600 tonne a day to health centres.

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday also resolved to allow Vedanta's Sterlite Industries in Tuticorin to produce oxygen for a four-month period, paving the way for the partial reopening of the copper smelter closed in 2018 over pollution concerns. The period may be extended later.

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