Dipu Rai
India’s demand for medical oxygen surpassed Brazil’s six-fold on May 5.
The difference was perhaps reflective of the huge gap in number of fresh Covid-19 cases in the two countries.
But the unmet demand in the past weeks is linked to the ferocious second wave that began on March 1.
According to WHO estimates, nearly 15 per cent of Covid-19 patients are required to have oxygen therapy.
So, sample these statistics: In its first phase starting March 2020, the pandemic took almost ten months to infect more than ten million people in India. But in the second, the disease took just ten weeks to sicken more than 11 million in the country.
Precisely, India added 10.2 million Covid-19 cases in around 296 days in 2020. And it took only 70 days for the pandemic to infect 11.5 million, or 12 per cent more, in only 70 days since March 1, 2021, available data show.
The vertical rise in the number of daily cases in the country now is, therefore, proportionate to the number of patients requiring oxygen therapy.
Oxygen Demand in India and elsewhere
PATH, which tracks oxygen demand on the basis of WHO data, reckons that the demand in September 2020 was close to four million cubic metres in India.
It jumped to nearly 17 million cubic metres on May 5, the PATH tracker shows.
September 2020 is when India had fresh cases spiking. And the second wave took an ominous turn after the third week of April this year.
Oxygen Outlook in India
Mohammad Ameel, who heads PATH India’s Primary Health Care, Technology and Innovations section, is hopeful that the country’s “severe medical oxygen supply crisis is expected to ease by mid-May with output rising by 25 per cent and transport infrastructure ready to cope with a surge in demand”.
The supply has been managed with a combination of short-term as well as long-term measures.
“India is importing around 100 cryogenic containers to transport large quantities of liquid medical oxygen. The Union government has said one lakh portable oxygen concentrators would be procured. These are some firefighting short-term measures that could meet the immediate need,” he adds.
Additionally, the central government is working with states in setting up oxygen plants in all districts of the country. “This is a very sustainable solution,” Ameel says.
Hopefully, these measures will take care of the demand of oxygen which is estimated to be rising at the rate of six-eight per cent every day. India Today
