Madhya Pradesh gets its oxygen supply from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. The state’s daily requirement of oxygen as increased from 40 tonnes in July to 90 tonnes in August and is currently at 130 tonnes. The main reason for this has been the spike in Covid-19 cases in the state.By Wednesday evening, there were 17,702 active Covid-19 cases in the state, of which 1,869 were reported in the last 24 hours. A fifth of these patients are on oxygen support.On Tuesday and Wednesday, several cities in Madhya Pradesh had reported shortage of oxygen in hospitals which caused problems in treating patients on oxygen support. Supply was interrupted for seven hours in a hospital in Dewas.Cities like Gwalior and Jabalpur have also reported lack of oxygen in the last two days. Although MP produces 44.5 tonnes of oxygen every day, most of it is industrial grade. To boost supply, Chouhan has issued an order that oxygen produced for industrial use should be refined for medical purposes.
COVID-19: Shivraj Singh Chouhan talks to Maharashtra CM about oxygen supply to MP
NEW DELHI: A day after Maharashtra stopped supplying medical-grade oxygen to other states, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached out to his Maharashtra counterpart, urging him to restore supply for hospitals treating severely ill patients.On Wednesday, Maharashtra principal health secretary Pradeep Kumar Vyas had issued an order which said oxygen produced in Maharashtra will be for Maharashtra only.“I have requested Maharashtra CM to not stop the supply of oxygen at such crucial times. He would try his best to continue the supply,” Chouhan told reporters, referring to his talk with Uddhav Thackeray over phone. “Till date, we have made alternative arrangements. Availability has been increased from 50 tonnes of oxygen per day to 150 tonnes. By this month’s end, the supply would increase up to 150 tonnes.”According to Chouhan, the shortfall because of Maharashtra’s decision will be met through supply from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.Chouhan also said that a new oxygen plant being set up in Hoshangabad will be ready in six months and it will help reduce dependence on other states. “We have also asked the existing plants to increase their production capacity from 50-60% to 70-80%,” Chouhan added.The CM had called an urgent meeting of government officials on Thursday morning to discuss the oxygen supply problem. The call to Thackeray was made after the meeting.
