Amid reports of shortage of oxygen in hospitals during the second wave of Covid-19 across the country, the Defence Ministry has decided to airlift 23 mobile oxygen generation plants from Germany, officials said on Friday. They said that each plant will have a capacity to produce 40 litres of oxygen per minute and 2,400 litres per hour. These oxygen-generating plants are expected within a week, they added.
Earlier this week, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a meeting to review the Ministry of Defence’s preparations and response to the Covid-19 situation.
Sources had informed that the Defence Minister took the review of progress in Covid-19 hospitals on Tuesday. He also asked officials to analyse and let him know what more is required and there will be procurement immediately, sources said.
More oxygen generation plants may be procured from abroad, sources said, adding: “The advantage of these plants is that they are easily portable.”
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has started airlifting big oxygen tankers from their place of use to the filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of much-needed oxygen, the IAF said on Friday.
As part of the operation, C-17 and IL-76 aircraft of IAF airlifted two empty cryogenic oxygen containers and one IL-76 aircraft airlifted one empty container to Panagarh yesterday, said the IAF. This comes amid reports of oxygen shortage in various parts of the country as the number of Covid-9 cases and deaths continue to rise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the oxygen supply across the country and discuss ways and means to boost its availability. He spoke about the need to work rapidly on multiple aspects, increasing production of oxygen, increasing the speed of distribution and using innovative ways to provide oxygen support to health facilities.