The 2nd wave of COVID-19 pandemic has shown its more disastrous nature than the 1st wave. The virus spread rapidly in just a month and did not give enough time to control the situation. Amid the rise in positive cases the hospitals witnessed lack of covid beds and medical oxygen.
But why is India facing lack of oxygen ?
The issue is not the shortage of oxygen but the supply of oxygen in different parts of the country. India is producing more than 9000 tonnes of medical oxygen by mid-May and India is consuming around 7000-8000 tonnes a day. So there is no shortage of oxygen in India . But the lack of supply chain management leads to this shortage .
"There are only a finite number of oxygen tankers and cylinders around. So, the logistics of refilling them and bringing them to the destination is a severe bottleneck," Meher Prakash of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research told DW.
The most oxygen producers are based in the eastern regions of India, while the demand has been in the western and northern parts of the country. So inadequate transport facility and storage capacity is the biggest problem.
The Government of India has started "Oxygen Express" to transport oxygen tankers in different regions . Indian Navy is also co-ordinating the supply chain management to ramp up transport.
Most of India's oxygen production is used for industrial purposes. The central government has diverted the industrial oxygen towards the health care system .India also lacks insufficient oxygen tankers. so the nitrogen and argon tankers are converted to transport oxygen.
Oxygen shortage is a huge problem not only in cities but also in small towns and villages. In this situation some people are black marketing oxygen charging higher prices. They are taking advantages of the helplessness of needy people .
Though the problem of oxygen shortage has been put under control for now. But the question comes "why does the Government not learn from the 1st wave of COVID-19 pandemic?" the health infrastructure in rural areas has not been improved in one year. In emergency situation the hospitals have not enough equipments to treat a critical patient . For this so many innocent people are losing their lives .
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