22 States Reporting Shortage in Oxygen Supply, Up From 12, Demand Increases By 67%

According to the oxygen allocation orders issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the necessity for medical oxygen has increased by 67 per cent within a period of mere nine days, from 15th April to 24th April. The order further revealed that the demand for an increased supply of oxygen has gone from 12 to 22. India's total production capacity stands at 7,500 Metric Tonnes (MT) whilst 6,600 MT for medical usage and some of the significant Oxygen producers being Inox Air Products, Linde India, Goyal MG Gases Pvt Ltd, National Oxygen Limited. The largest of these, Inox, produces 2000 MT per day.

Rajesh Bhushan, the Union Health Secretary, had on 15th April addressed the Additional Secretaries/ Principal Secretaries/Secretaries (Health) of 12 states regarding the oxygen allocation of each state for the week starting on 20th April. These states are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. In the letter addressed to the concerned states, Mr Bhushan detailed the generation units from which these states were getting oxygen. For the week beginning on 20th April, these states demanded a cumulative amount of 4,880 MT of oxygen and thereby, the allocations subsequently was arranged.

Demand Shoots Up, Supply Managed

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, wrote another letter on April 24 to state that the health officials had communicated to them about the allocation against their demand for oxygen from April 25 onwards. The inference was that the number of states now seeking oxygen has increased from 12 to 22. The cumulative oxygen demand of these states has risen to 1,172 MT, which is 67 per cent higher than the demand on April 15. In Addition to the previously mentioned states, the new states asking for oxygen supply are Uttarakhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, J&K, Goa, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Daman and Diu. The Centre had allocated 8,280 MT of oxygen to these states, as stated by Mr Vinayak's letter. Out of the 22 states 14 states were given the amount of oxygen they required while four (Haryana, Gujarat, Punjab, Tamil Nadu) were given less than required and four (Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh) were given more than required, reported The Indian Express.

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