What can be the ravages of supply chain disruptions? A case study on the current oxygen shortage being faced by India.

The surge of covid cases in India has devastated the Healthcare system, but the #shortages of oxygen have more to do with the supply chain management than production capacity. According to the All India Gases Manufacturers Association, India has a manufacturing capacity of about 7500 metric tonnes (MT) /Day against the current demand of 6000 MT/Day. With over a thousand metric tonnes of spare, India is still gasping for medical oxygen.

Inox Air Products is one of India's leading liquid medical (LMO) oxygen manufacturers that meets about 50% of India's demand. Among other manufacturers are Linde India, National Oxygen Ltd, etc. Oxygen is also produced in Steel manufacturing industries as a source of raw material and it is also a by-product of the Petroleum Industry. All of them have come in unison to meet the sudden influx of demand for oxygen from pre-covid levels. The two sectors contribute as much as 4000 MT of LMO and supply it to several states and hospitals.

The manufacturing of LMO is done in large plants using cryogenic distillation techniques, fed into columns to get liquid oxygen. The LMO is then filled into special cryogenic tankers for storage that maintain temperatures of -180 degrees Celsius and transported to the distributors. The problems in supply arise as these tankers are just 1,172 in number and the tankers have to travel as much as 1500 kilometres to reach the small distributors of the states. For example, Delhi gets its LMO from Odisha that complies with about 2000 kilometres of travel to reach the final destination. The Government of India is airlifting the empty tankers to reduce the time. The Railways are also being utilised to ferry the tankers speed up the distribution process. However, the lack of an adequate number of tankers and a proper logistical channel for supply has created disharmony and led to a significant number of casualties to date.

The distributors covert the liquefied oxygen into gaseous form, feed into the high-pressure cylinders and transport it to the final destination i.e hospitals. There is also a dearth of cylinders as some households have begun stockpiling them out of fear of an emergency. This panic hoarding has also led to a steep increase in the price of cylinders. a 100-litre cylinder now costs more than 9000 bucks, up from 4000 during pre-covid situations. The lack of affordability for oxygen cylinders is a major concern caused solely due to mismanagement of the supply chain.

There have been made several efforts by the Government to tackle the supply chain disruptions. For example, Railways will operate "oxygen express" trains in the Green corridor for fast movement of the tankers. As said, the Indian Airforce is also being employed to airlift the empty tankers and cut short the time for one way travel. India has also brought 4 Cryogenic special tankers from Singapore and is converting tankers for nitrogen and argon into oxygen-carrying vehicles. With these efforts, India plans to revive from the oxygen crisis caused by supply chain disruptions.