Centre has urged seven big states to ensure adequate Oxygen availability in all healthcare facilities. The Union Health Ministry held a virtual meeting on Sunday where Union Health Secretary, Secretary DPIIT and Secretary Pharmaceuticals participated. The meeting was concluded by Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, and Railways Piyush Goyal who addressed all the participants. 

 

State Health Secretaries and Industries Secretaries of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also participated in the meeting. The aim of the meeting was to ensure adequate Oxygen availability in all healthcare facilities in these States and  unrestricted intra as well as inter-state movement of oxygen.

The States were specifically advised to :-

• Ensure facility wise/hospital wise oxygen inventory management and advance planning for timely replenishment so that there are no stockout.
• Ensure that no restriction is imposed on the movement of Medical Oxygen between States/UTs.
• Provision of “Green Corridor” for Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) Tankers within the cities.
• Hospitals and institutions have long term tender/ contract agreement for supply of Oxygen with oxygen manufacturers, which need to be honoured. Hence, States must not impose restrictions on free movement of Oxygen.
• Ensure timely payment of the due bills to the manufacturers and supplier to maintain uninterrupted supply of oxygen.
• Improve power supply infrastructure and ensure uninterrupted supply to Oxygen Manufacturing Units.
• Ensure proper disinfection of Oxygen cylinders as per protocols while sending cylinders to fillers of Oxygen.
• Effective coordination with steel plants for Oxygen procurement since steel plants provide approx. 550 MT/day oxygen in addition to oxygen manufacturers who provide 6400 MT/day.