Lucknow: The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has rushed 5,000 litres of Jumbo oxygen cylinders to his parliamentary constituency Lucknow to meet the oxygen shortage in city hospitals on Monday morning.
Four Covid positive patients were choked to death on Saturday due to lack of oxygen in Lohia hospital in Lucknow. With the state capital reeling under the coronavirus catastrophe, oxygen was in short supply in almost all hospitals following a spike in the number of positive patients.
The jumbo oxygen cylinders were despatched to Lucknow by the Defence Research and Development (DRDO) authorities on the directions of the defence Minister.
The State Health Minister Jai Prakash Singh had requested the Union Health Ministry on Sunday for the supply of medical oxygen for treating critical patients at UP hospitals facing a shortage.
Wasting no time in attending SoS from people of his parliamentary constituency, Rajnath Singh rushed a truckload of jumbo cylinders to Lucknow. The supply arrived in the city on Monday morning and handed over to the state government for distribution to city hospitals wherever it was required.
The jumbo oxygen cylinders were despatched to Lucknow by the Defence Research and Development (DRDO) authorities on the directions of the defence Minister.
On Rajnath’s directions, the DRDO has acquired two sites in Lucknow to set up two covid hospitals to meet the covid bed crisis in the state capital. Work is at the war-footing level and one of them is expected to be operational in the next couple of days.
The DRDO is also setting up ten oxygen plants across Uttar Pradesh to ensure adequate production of oxygen for covid patients during the second wave of coronavirus. The DRDO is using the latest technology at these plants to produce medical oxygen from the air.
The SGPGIMS has become self-sufficient after its 20,000 litres oxygen plant became operational on Sunday. Other hospitals are still facing an acute shortage. “The situation will be eased out 15 days once these plants become operational,” claimed a government spokesman.
