As Covid-19 cases surge, Bihar hospitals report oxygen shortage

Hospitals in Bihar have been reporting a shortage of oxygen amid an increase in demand for it with a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Authorities at Patna’s Sahyog Hospital said the demand has doubled from 20 cylinders to 40 per day. The hospital has been unable to admit Covid-19 patients who require oxygen up to 12-15 litres per minute, said an official.

Principal secretary (health) Pratyaya Amrit acknowledged the shortage over the last two days and said efforts were on to streamline the supply. “We have asked two major suppliers, Linde India and Inox Air Products Ltd, to supply medical oxygen on a daily basis instead of alternate days as is the case now,” he said.

“Two oxygen generation plants, with a capacity of 250 litres oxygen per minute, are operational at the Patna Medical College Hospital and the Nalanda Medical College Hospital while those at seven other state-run medical college hospitals will be functional in a week or 10 days,” said Amrit.

Bihar relies mostly on West Bengal and Jharkhand for the supply of medical oxygen.

Rambabu, an operator at an oxygen production and refilling firm, said the demand for small cylinders had gone up by 10 times and for big by three to five times. “Earlier, we used to supply 50 to 60 big cylinders every day. Now, we have to supply 180-200 cylinders daily,” he said.

Another supplier, Suresh Kumar, said his agency would receive a demand of 23 to 25 small cylinders, which has now gone up to 35 to 45 daily.