Bhopal: Amid shortage of medical oxygen supply in the state, the Centre has offered 1,000 Oxygen Concentrator Machines to Madhya Pradesh.
The Department of Health and Family Welfare has decided to offer at least two machines or a maximum of 20 machines per district, depending on the demand. On Saturday, 400 machines were sent across districts which will be further sent to hospitals based on need. According to the Health ministry, the machines could be valuable in dealing with emergencies.
The Oxygen Concentrator Machines could pull the air and convert it into five litres of oxygen per minute and ensure oxygen supply to two patients simultaneously.
The supply of oxygen was recently hit in the state, as neighbouring Maharashtra had stopped the oxygen supplies to Madhya Pradesh.
As per the recent reports, Bhopal has received 3 machines, Jabalpur 9, Indore and Gwalior 2 each and Ujjain 5.
Districts lagging in terms of medical facilities have received more machines. Chhatarpur has received 23 machines, Shahdol 20, Balaghat 18, Guna 17, Shivouri, Satna, Rajgarh and Narsinghpur have received 15 machines each.
Indore, which has been worst affected district due to Covid-19, has ordered that the oxygen supply would be done only to hospitals, preventing the local industrial units to source oxygen supply.
As the state government decided to lift lockdown in a phased manner, the industrial demand for oxygen has picked up significantly.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had asked the oxygen plants to pep up the production and sanctioned an oxygen plant from a private company in Hoshangabad’s Mohasa which will start producing 200 tonnes of oxygen within next six months.
In a tweet, Chouhan had said, “Maharashtra used to supply only 20 tonnes of oxygen to Madhya Pradesh and the company which sourced supplies from Maharashtra will now be doing the same from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. By September end, we will ensure oxygen supplies of 150 tonnes, Chouhan had said.
From a monthly demand of 40 tonnes in July, the demand surged to 90 tonnes in August and to 130 tonnes in September as Covid-19 patients have surged in the last few months. The state government has urged state governments of Gujarat and Chhattisgarh to supply oxygen after Maharashtra has issued orders to only supply oxygen in the state amid massive surge in corona cases.
CM Chouhan has assured that there is no shortage of oxygen in the state and the state government was making arrangements to keep the supplies intact.
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