West Bengal: Oxygen demand doubles as supply chain takes a hit – Times of India

KOLKATA: In less than a month, the state’s medical oxygen requirement has almost doubled from 150 tonne per day to around 270 tonne per day as Bengal touched 60,000 active cases, with more than 10,000 new cases on Wednesday.
Several nursing homes, pharmacies and oxygen equipment suppliers in Kolkata reported shortages of medical oxygen for a growing pool of patients who are gasping for breath. Be it in Kolkata or the rest of the state, oxygen suppliers said they had almost run out of stock in less than a week and were not being able to get fresh stock due to an acute crisis across the country.
“While there is additional requirement from hospitals, several companies and individuals are also stocking cylinders to tide over the future crisis and at present most pharmacies and oxygen suppliers have run out of their stock,” said Sajal Ganguly, a senior functionary of the Bengal Chemist and Druggist Association.
Abhijit Ghosh, the owner of Seba Medical on Sukeas Street said, till four days ago, he had 25 oxygen cylinders at his store. On Wednesday, he had only two, both of which were already booked by a customer. Ilias Rahman, a supplier in Chinar Park, said even the dealers and companies who provide cylinders can’t provide them with fresh stocks anymore. The suppliers said the problem is accentuated with the existing customers not returning the cylinders. Oxygen supplier Aryan Shaw said there were five major companies who manufacture oxygen cylinders in the country, of which three are in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Considering the Covid spike in those states, the stocks from those plants are getting utilized locally.
“Bengal is yet to match Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Maharashtra or Delhi numbers. As a result, we still have to supply oxygen to those states as per instruction by the central government. If large numbers are reported, the Centre would take adequate measures and this scarcity in Bengal can be met with,” said a senior official of a leading medical oxygen manufacturer in eastern India.
“There are not enough cylinders and tankers to store and transport oxygen. It requires specially trained labourers as well as machines to increase the production of cylinders,” an industry expert opined.