The exponential surge in India’s coronavirus infections over the past few months has swamped the health care system, where we have witnessed patients dying in ambulances and parking lots outside hospitals thus causing overwhelmed crematoriums.
Besides that, It has also drained supplies of medical oxygen, which is vital for those who have been infected with the Coronavirus. The dire shortage has turned out to be a major challenge for the people in India where dozens of hospitals in a number of Indian cities and towns have run short of the gas, sending relatives of patients scrambling for oxygen cylinders. Twenty-four people died in one hospital overnight in the southern state of Karnataka after the hospital ran out of oxygen for its patients. To fully understand the catastrophe, here are three reasons why India is facing an oxygen shortage.
No coordination
Most oxygen producers are based in India’s east, while the soaring demand for said tanks is cities in the western and northern parts of the country. The people in these cities confirm that there is no coordination of oxygen supply and distribution, thus resulting in lesser oxygen tanks.
Before the second wave of the pandemic happened, the oxygen tanks were used for other businesses where India produced enough oxygen, at just over 7,000 tons a day. The Indian government then directed most of the country’s oxygen supply of industrially produced oxygen towards the health care system because oxygen is crucial for severe COVID patients with hypoxemia when oxygen levels in the blood are too low.
Inadequate transport and storage capacity
India lacks enough transport and storage capacity. Liquid oxygen at very low temperatures has to be transported in cryogenic tankers to distributors, which then convert it into gas for filling cylinders. But India is a third-world country that is short of cryogenic tankers.
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. The oxygen shortage has been a huge problem not only in cities but also in small towns and villages where the health infrastructure is already extremely weak.
To get the supplies needed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has launched “oxygen express” trains to ship the gas from production units to locations that need it nationwide. The Indian Air Force has also been airlifting oxygen from military bases.
Foreign aid stuck in Delhi airport
Over the past few months, emergency medical aid from foreign donors to alleviate the dire oxygen shortage has been arriving in India.
The US delivered the third of six aid shipments, including 1,000 oxygen cylinders. The UK donated more than 400 oxygen concentrators, and France sent eight oxygen generators, each of which can serve 250 hospitalized patients. A German military aircraft with 120 ventilators also reached India on Saturday, and officials said plans were being made for additional flights with more supplies.
While the emergency aid could save lives, it seems not to have reached those who are gasping for oxygen. The shipments have been stuck at customs for weeks, according to local media reports.