With third Covid wave lurking, government looks to ramp up oxygen production – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The government is stepping up efforts to ramp up oxygen production and supply infrastructure for a possible third wave of Covid-19 and is looking at setting up facilities near large cities such as Delhi and Mumbai as well as creating buffer stocks to meet the requirements in case of a spike.
Some of the measures include advisories on the disuse of certain types of masks to optimise the use and reduce wastage, sources told TOI.
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In addition to steps already announced, such as setting up of over 1,200 Pressure Swing Adsorption oxygen generators, the idea is to have the infrastructure to meet nearly half the requirement of the large cities, which had to deal with a large chunk of the cases.

A detailed monitoring mechanism for the installation of the PSA plants is also being put in place, along with ways to monitor supplies on a real-time basis and audit of usage.
Storage is the other focus area with attempts being made to rapidly scape up filling capacity, which will also reduce the need for frequent replenishment of stocks. Besides, discussions are underway to create storage hubs in the states so that the requirement can be met to a large extent.

The second wave had necessitated massive movement of liquid medical oxygen from “surplus states” such as Jharkhand and Odisha to Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra to meet the unprecedented requirement.
Those such as Delhi, which do not have production facilities, failed to even organise tankers to ship oxygen leaving the entire management to the Centre.