Govt moves on war-footing to rush oxygen supply chain as Covid-19 surges

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<strong>The government has moved on a war-footing to ramp up the supply of  oxygen to Covid-hit states and has decided to set up new oxygen plants at more hospitals in remote areas.</strong></p>
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The decision comes amid a surge in coronavirus cases that is tending to overwhelm healthcare services across the country and left several states struggling to deal with the situation.</p>
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Another hundred hospitals in remote areas of the country will get their own oxygen plants with money from the PM-CARES fund being allocated for the purpose and production of the crucial gas used to treat severe Covid-19 patients has been ramped up, the government said on Thursday.</p>
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Supplies of oxygen ran short in some states but the government allayed fears over a shortage of the gas saying India is producing oxygen at full capacity for each of the last two days and it had boosted output.</p>
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"Along with the ramped up production and the surplus stocks available, the present availability is sufficient," the health ministry said in a statement.</p>
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"An indicative framework has been developed to guide the states on the sources of medical oxygen," the statement said.</p>
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Some 162 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants, which help hospitals make their own medical oxygen, sanctioned under the PM-CARES fund are being closely reviewed for early completion, it said.</p>
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The government will also identify another 100 hospitals in far flung locations for consideration of sanction for installation of PSA plants, it added.</p>
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A separate government statement said 12 states – Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan – have been identified as "high burden".</p>
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India has added over 2 lakh infections over the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed, for a seventh daily record surge in the last eight days, while 1,038 deaths took its number of fatalities to 173,123.</p>