BHOPAL: An acute shortage of oxygen that hit the state after the second wave of the corona pandemic seems to have subsided to some extent. The oxygen deficiency which has caused many deaths is no more as sharp as it was earlier.
The number of corona cases has risen since the beginning of April when the state received only 80MT of oxygen for medical use. Now, it has increased to 680MT. The major challenge for the government is to maintain its supply. Oxygen is being provided to the state through the medical oxygen suppliers. Apart from those suppliers, oxygen is being sent through Lava Air Separation Unit and Oxygen Constructors. The challenge the government is facing is how to get oxygen through LMO suppliers.
In Madhya Pradesh, the number of corona cases seems to be reducing, but it is increasing very fast in other states. So, once the cases continue to shoot up in other states, the demand for oxygen is set to rise. To deal with the problem, the government has decided to set up a team of officers.
Additional chief secretary of public health engineering Malay Shrivastava, secretary of MSME Vivek Porwal, drug controller P Narhari and director of the state education centre Dhanraju are working on it. An oxygen control-room has also been set up. Three officers are heading it. The control-room works 24 hours. Three officers of the state administrative servicesóDinesh Shukla, GS Dhrube and Pankaj Sharmaóare dealing with the control-room. To maintain oxygen supply, trucks coming from LMO Suppliers are being monitored through GPS.
An officer says that, as the governmentís priority is to bring oxygen to the state as quickly as possible, efforts are being made to get it from the nearby states. The central government is sending oxygen through the Railways, since there was an acute of it in the country. Besides, empty tankers are being airlifted.
According to a senior officer, there is not going to be any shortage of oxygen, since the number of cases has declined. He says that fall in the number of active cases has not taken the pressure off the oxygen-supported beds, so it is a big challenge to maintain the supply of the life-giving gas.
