New Delhi: After Reliance Industries Ltd, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) have begun diverting oxygen produced at their refineries to supplement the availability of medical oxygen in states worst hit by COVID-19.
In a statement, IOC said it has "begun the supply of 150 tonnes of oxygen at no cost to various hospitals in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab."
"The first batch of the lifesaver medical grade oxygen was dispatched today to Maha Durga Charitable Trust Hospital, New Delhi," it said.
In the face of a massive surge in demand for medical oxygen during the second wave of the pandemic, IOC has diverted the high-purity oxygen used in its Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) unit to produce medical-grade liquid oxygen at its Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex in Haryana.
The throughput of the unit has also been scaled down for a more critical cause.
In a separate statement, BPCL said it has started supply of 100 tonnes of oxygen at no cost.
"The company will be supplying around 100 tonnes per month," the statement added.
Read More: Rising Covid cases, curbs pull stock markets lower
In a similar move, cooperative fertiliser major IFFCO said that it will set up four medical oxygen plants with an investment of about Rs 30 crore in the next 15 days in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha, in a bid to supply it for free to hospitals.
"The order has been already issued. It will take at least 15 days from today to transport, install and commission an oxygen plant. A dedicated team is working on this project. IFFCO will try to commission it as soon as possible for the service of the nation," the IFFCO spokesperson told reporters on Monday.
The Centre last Thursday announced that the country’s major steel producers have been roped in to help the worst Covid-19 affected states like Maharashtra and Madhra Pradesh.
“Maharashtra has been able to lift surplus medical oxygen on daily basis from Steel plants like JSW in Dolvi (Maharashtra), SAIL in Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) and from JSW in Bellary (Karnataka),” a government release said. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh could supplement its oxygen supply from the Bhilai Steel plant in Chhattisgarh, the release added.
Last week, Reliance's twin oil refineries in Jamnagar in Gujarat through minor process modification converted industrial oxygen into medical-use oxygen that can be administered to COVID-19 patients low on oxygen. In all, 100 tonnes of oxygen is being supplied from the Jamnagar refineries free of cost.
With average daily cases of COVID-19 rising again since last one month, the demand for oxygen has significantly risen. In fact, in most parts of the country, the cases are hitting new peak, thereby disrupting the demand-supply scenario for medical oxygen.
Read More: Jubilant Pharma successfully tests oral formulation of Remdesivir, shares jump 7%
Meanwhile, the Centre banned the supply of oxygen for industrial purposes except in nine specified industries in view of shortage of the essential public health commodity in several states amid a spike in COVID-19 infections.
Announcing the decision, the Government on Sunday said: "The matter was deliberated by the DPIIT with all the stakeholders and after due deliberations, it was considered prudent to restrict the industrial usage of oxygen to meet the rising demand for medical oxygen."
India's total tally of COVID-19 cases crossed the 1.50 crore mark on Monday with a record single-day rise of 2,73,810 new coronavirus infections.
With this, active case load surpassed the 19-lakh mark and the total death toll increased to 1,78,769 with a record 1,619 daily new fatalities.
(With Agency Inputs)
