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 In the big states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, that
are also some of the worst-affected by the virus, demand for oxygen
has more than tripled, doctors and government officials said,
prompting urgent calls for help.
"Desperate patients have been calling me through the night but I
don't know when I will get stock," Rishikhesh Patil, an oxygen
supplier in the western city of Nashik, told Reuters.
The health ministry reported 90,123 new infections on Wednesday,
taking the total caseload to 5.02 million.
The death toll from COVID-19 is now at 82,066, the ministry said,
with 1,290 fatalities recorded in the previous 24 hours.
India has the world's fastest growing novel coronavirus epidemic and
added its last million infections in just 12 days. It is only the
second country in the world to have more than 5 million cases, after
the United States.
At least 6% of India's nearly 1 million active cases need oxygen
support, health ministry official Rajesh Bhushan told reporters.
Supplies were adequate but state governments should monitor usage
and flag shortages, he said.
"The problem happens when at a facility level, if there is no
inventory management. Every state should ensure this," Bhushan said.
In the capital of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the
total requirement of oxygen cylinders stood at 5,000 cylinders
compared with 1,000 cylinders in normal times, a government official
said.
The worst-affected state of Maharashtra has decided to reduce supply
to neighbouring states to meet its growing demand, a state
government official said.
Vehicles carrying oxygen will get right of way and can use sirens to
ensure they reach hospitals faster.
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Ravindra Khade Patil, a doctor who manages two private hospitals on the
outskirts of Mumbai, spoke of the stress he faces trying to ensure he can supply
his patients with oxygen.
Two days ago, the supplier of oxygen to his hospitals did not turn up at his
usual time.
Patil made frantic calls to the supplier and then to nearby hospitals and
lawmakers, knowing that if the oxygen didn't arrive on time, it would be too
late for some of his most critical patients.
Finally, past midnight, thanks to pressure from a government official, the
oxygen tanks arrived.
"If they had arrived even a couple of hours late, we could have lost five or six
patients. Every day, we are worried if we will be able to meet our requirements,
if the oxygen will arrive or not," Patil told Reuters.
Graphic - COVID Cases in India, U.S. and Brazil:
https://graphics.reuters.com/
HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/xklpynybnvg/
Graphic - Daily India coronavirus caseload by state:
https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/
INDIA/azgvoamknvd/chart.png
Graphic - COVID-19 cases cross 5 million in India: https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/INDIA/dgkplldmypb/
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, Robert Birsel)
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