Amidst the outbreak of the coronavirus, there has been a lack of oxygen supply, especially as the private hospitals have been consuming more of it.
As per reports, private hospitals have been consuming more than twice the amount of oxygen than the government hospitals. As a consequence, the health department has expressed the need to have an independent inquiry with regards to the matter. Currently, the state consumes 600 metric tonnes of oxygen per day for patients suffering from the coronavirus. About 5 to 6 per cent of the patients undergoing treatment are supplied with oxygen. This is about 10 per cent of the total patients in the state.
However, oxygen usage rates are charged in private hospitals whereas public health systems do not charge for oxygen. Therefore, the principal secretary of the health department, Dr Pradip Vyas has directed the district health authorities to find out the exact amount of oxygen required by all the hospitals per day. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was instructed to monitor the amount of oxygen supplied by the 65 Oxygen Centers in the state and whether it meets every criterion. The results were bluntly pointing to twice the amount of consumption of oxygen by the private hospitals.
The situation is especially problematic as the state is witnessing issues with oxygen transport and supply to hospitals in north Maharashtra and Marathwada that have no major manufacturers to quickly supply medical oxygen. With the state recording 20,000 to 25,000 fresh cases every day, it is being assumed that the state might run out of its oxygen supply soon unless the problem is fixed.
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