Hospitals in Madhya Pradesh are struggling with oxygen shortage as its demand continues to grow with rising Covid-19 infections in the state, which had over 84,957 active cases of the disease on Thursday.
Aurbindo Hospital, one of Indore’s biggest, put up a board saying it did not have any oxygen. Similar, banners were seen at other private hospitals in Indore as well as Bhopal.
Hitesh Sharma, a doctor at a private hospital in Bhopal, said they were left with oxygen on Thursday that lasted for just two hours. “The government provided two cylinders only that helped manage overnight. Now we do not have any oxygen on Friday. There are 32 patients on oxygen support at our hospital and we need oxygen immediately.”
A video purportedly showing the family of a Covid-19 patient requesting Union minister Prahlad Patel for oxygen in Damoh went viral. Patel is heard scolding them and saying he would slap a man complaining about of unavailability of oxygen.
Despite repeated attempt, Patel could not be contacted for comments.
Mukesh Kumar, whose mother is admitted to a hospital in Damoh, said she got oxygen just for 15 minutes on Thursday. “Her saturation level was going down, but hospital administration is not providing oxygen due to shortage.”
A health department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 405 metric tonnes of oxygen is being supplied to Madhya Pradesh. “But for 19,172 oxygen and Intensive Care Unit beds, [the state needs] 441 metric tonne oxygen. …Madhya Pradesh requires 553 metric tonne oxygen as the number of cases is increasing very fast.”
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The second Covid-19 wave has sparked shortages of hospital beds and other crucial supplies such as oxygen and medicines across the country. Oxygen is a critical medical intervention against Covid-19, which causes respiratory distress in some cases. The pandemic has accelerated the global demand for it. The need for oxygen has increased to 1.1 million cylinders in low to middle-income countries alone, according to the World Health Organisation.
Minister Vishwas Sarang said four oxygen plants are being set up. “Bharat Oman Refineries, Bina, will provide oxygen for 10,00 beds hospital being constructed in Bina for Covid-19 patients of Sagar and Vidisha.”
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said they were improving the facilities. “But it is necessary to break the chain. If positive cases increase further, the facilities will fail.” He said they are starting a campaign called Yog se Nirog (healthy with yoga) for Covid 19 patients under home isolation. “A yoga teacher will deal with 10 patients. We will try to enhance the mental strength of patients through this campaign.”