OXYGEN CRISIS IN COVID-19

INTRODUCTION-

It was 17th April when an Uttar Pradesh journalist Vinay Srivastava's oxygen level dropped down to 55 and he tweeted at 8 PM for help saying neither of the hospitals is picking up calls. A few hours later he tweeted again telling his oxygen level was close to 31. On 21st April his son Harshit Shrivastava tweeted and told all that his father was no more as no one responded to a demand for an oxygen cylinder. This situation reached a level where hospitals started tweeting about oxygen shortages and moving to high courts. This leads us to a question that where are the $1.2 billion donations that India received?

As the government was insufficient in managing the crisis they found a route to get away with this. State governments blamed the central government for not catering to the demand whereas the center said that proper allocations were made to the state from the PM relief fund but the state government was unsuccessful in setting up oxygen plants. According to the government of India, the production of oxygen is higher than the demand. So, following the basic economics why there is an oxygen shortage. Let us start from the very basics of this.

BASICS OF MEDICAL OXYGEN-

Going with the basic understanding, Medical oxygen is used by hospitals to treat patients with a lower oxygen saturation level. The patients with Covid-19 are directly affected and go through respiratory problems, thus needing oxygen. The air we breathe in constitutes just 21% of oxygen whereas the medical oxygen has more than 90% oxygen i.e high demand for oxygen.

3 WAYS TO GENERATE-

Cryogenic Distillation-Large-scale industrial plants and thus found not in cities but industrial areas.99.9%pure

Pressure Swing Absorption-They are smaller than the Cryogenic Distillators in comparison and can be transported via pipeline so there is no kind of dependence at the hospital's side. But, the oxygen produced is not much pure and can only be used to treat mild cases.

Oxygen concentrators-They are very small and can be used with just a plug. There is a greater supply of these and are readily available. The only problem they undergo is not producing bulk oxygen.

THE DEMAND-

Prior to the Covid 19, the demand for medical oxygen was just 750 Metric tons which reached over 2800 MT in the 1st wave in 2020 and now it's over 6600 MT in 2021. According to the government of India, the production of oxygen is 7287 MT/day which is higher than the demand (6600MT/day) which is 697 of excess supply.

PROBLEMS WE FACE-

The problem is not in the production but rather in the transportation of oxygen. Major cities which produce oxygen are located in the eastern part (Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh) which is far from the major epicenters of the virus.

Liquid oxygen is not transported easily, it is transported in what are called cryogenic containers which are transported only by truck or trains and not with aircraft with explosion risks. A big problem that adds upon to the burden is the making of containers. These contained require 4-6 months for manufacturing which is why India is importing them from international suppliers.

The means is only limited to road and that why this process becomes cumbersome and time-consuming. For example: From Raigarh to Delhi for an oxygen tanker to reach it will take nearly 1.5 days excluding the administrative issues between states.

WAS THE GOVERNMENT SLEEPING?

During the peak of the 1st wave of September 2020 in India, several hospitals of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh reported oxygen shortages. While Maharashtra started setting up oxygen plants AAP and BJP govt. were reluctant to do so. But, in October 2020 the government put out an online tender leading to a slight rise in the number of PSA plants in the country. The government further worked in making contract with local suppliers but there were many cases of fraud and the contractor fleeing away reported.

CONCLUSION-

The main reason for the shortages is just the lack of infrastructure and tug-of-war between the center and the state government. The stories played on social media and in the courts are very much different. Several reports claim that India was not short of anything but it was just waking up late to the problem.

Hope you gained some knowledge about the whole oxygen crisis thing and liked it. If you did, don't forget to like and spread this with your friends!