Originally published on May 5, 2021 2:59 pm
MUMBAI, India Sanchi Gupta was running around, trying to get her hands on an oxygen cylinder even an empty one.
Her mother was one of 140 COVID-19 patients in Saroj Hospital, one of the best-equipped hospitals in India s capital, New Delhi. She was on a ventilator in intensive care. Then the hospital told Gupta and other families that its oxygen supply had run out. So they had to go out and find oxygen cylinders to bring to the hospital to keep their loved ones alive. We are not getting full cylinders, so we are trying to find empty cylinders, because we can still get those filled, Gupta explained to local media outside the hospital last month. We re in contact with NGOs [in the hope that they have tanks that can fill cylinders], everybody! We re using every kind of pressure, every contact. We are desperate.
Covid-19: What will it take to make India breathe?
(Reuters file)
An in-depth look at the oxygen crisis across the country’s length and breadth due to the Covid-19 scourge.
The ‘apocalyptic’ second wave of Covid-19 outbreak in India has touched a grim milestone of 20 million (m) cases and the worst is not yet over, as daily infections are expected to peak in the coming weeks in the world’s second-most populous country.
The country’s overtaxed healthcare system has broken as the contagion has overwhelmed across some of the most populous states.
Is India losing its battle to breathe?
Reliance Industries produces over 11pc medical grade liquid oxygen in India 4:41 AM, 4th May 2021 Reliance Industries plant in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. (Representative Image/File Photo)
MUMBAI, INDIA: As India grapples with an unprecedented new wave of the Covid Pandemic, Reliance Industries has realized the critical need of the hour is assured availability of medical grade liquid oxygen for treatment of severely ill patients across the country.
Traditionally, Reliance Industries, not a manufacturer of medical grade liquid oxygen, has now become India’s largest producer of this life-saving resource from a single location. At its refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Jamnagar and other facilities, RIL now produces over 1000 MT of medical grade liquid oxygen per day or over 11 percent of India’s total production – meeting the needs of nearly every one in ten patients.
App-based door-to-door fuel delivery service called The Fuel Delivery has been launched in Mumbai. The Fuel Delivery is a start-up that aims to cater to sectors like real estate, hospitals, corporate office parks, schools and institutions, banks, shopping malls, warehouses and agriculture. The company has signed an agreement with the Indian Oil Corporation Limited to offer doorstep delivery of diesel anywhere in India.
Customers can place an order through a mobile or web app. The fuel is delivered with customer details like name, mobile number, quantity, address and time of delivery. Bowsers that comply with the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) standards will bring it to the set destination. All delivery vehicles are monitored and tracked in real-time.
To meet the urgent requirements of Covid-19 patients, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Sunday handed over 50 oxygen cylinders to Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad. As part of DRDO s sustained efforts to meet the urgent requirement of oxygen supplies, director-general of missiles and strategic systems, MSR Prasad, handed over the oxygen cylinders to authorities of the hospital in Secunderabad in the presence of Union Minister of State Kishan Reddy. According to the official release, the cylinders have a water capacity of around 46.7 litres each and can be pressurised up to 150 bars. In total, each cylinder can store around 7,000 litres of oxygen.