New Delhi:
The production of liquid medical oxygen, a key component in the treatment of Covid patients, has gone up by ten times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today told listeners on his monthly radio programme “Mann Ki Baat”.
“In the normal course, we were producing 900 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in a day. Today, the production has gone up to 9,500 metric tonnes a day – an increase of almost 10 per cent,” said the Prime Minister underlining the government efforts in fighting coronavirus.
A few weeks ago, there were multiple SOS from hospitals, with many saying they were left with just a few hours’ of medical oxygen. Social media acted as a catalogue of oxygen demands from citizens across the country.
Emergency medical aid arrived from foreign donors to alleviate a dire oxygen shortage even as government directed states that all liquid oxygen, including stock existing with private plants, be used for medical purposes only. Special Oxygen Express Trains were started to respond to states’ demand for urgent supply.