The Patna High Court on Friday said there is deficiency in supply of medical oxygen for treating Covid-19 patients in Bihar and directed that the shortfall be met through proper coordination between the state and the Centre at the earliest.
Presenting its action plan, including status of oxygen supply before the court, the Bihar governmentтАЩs senior counsel, Ranjit Kumar, told the bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Mohit Kumar Shah that adequate oxygen was available as per the requirement of existing oxygenated beds, while it is striving for more in view of increase in demand due to spike in Covid-19 positive cases.
Additional solicitor general KN Singh said the Centre has allocated 194 metric tonnes (MT) of medical oxygen to the state, which the state would require to lift. тАЬHowever, so far the state was getting less supply, may be due to logistics problems,тАЭ he said.
The counsel for the state government said the state was also planning to augment oxygen availability, including by installing pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen plant and a proposal for this has also been sent to the Centre. Earlier, the state government had demanded 300 MT from the Centre.
тАЬAt present, PMCH and NMCH plants produce oxygen at the rate of 300 litres per minute, while Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Bettiah and Madhepura medical college and hospitals have a capacity of 280 liters per minute. Besides, Pawapuri hospital will have its functional from May 1, while those at Gaya and Bhagalpur will get operational from May 21. Together, the capacity will go up to 2620 litres per minute,тАЭ he said.
The bench, however, told the state counsel to let the people know what the state has and what it does not have in the public domain through portal and newspaper advertisements. It also sought to knwo why the state suffered shortage mid-April when it claims no shortage today.
The court had earlier sought to know the state action plan, including availability and the mode and manner in which the state planned to supply to different dedicated Covid hospitals and dedicated Covid healthcare centres, as also private hospitals. The shortage of oxygen was also corroborated by the report of the registrar general of the HC on the death of Gagan Mishra, an HC officer, reportedly, because of unavailability of oxygen in various hospitals in the city of Patna. The court had asked for a report.
Taking serious note of the facts mentioned in the report regarding the paucity of oxygen in the State, which is a crucial medical requirement and an essential critical component for treatment of COVID-19 patients, the bench had requested Ranjit Kumar to seek detailed instructions from the State of Bihar in respect of the effective steps which have been taken and are proposed to be taken to tide over the situation arising out of reported acute shortage of medicinal oxygen in the state of Bihar.
