Admitting that the state is facing shortage of medical oxygen to ensure treatment of COVID patients, Haryana Home-cum-Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday said that we have written to the Central Government to increase our allocation of oxygen supply.
“The number of COVID patients is increasing rapidly every day. The state currently requires 270 MT of oxygen per day, while Haryana is currently getting 162 MT of oxygen from the Centre. A request has been made by the State Government to the Central Government to increase the current oxygen supply quantity to 270 MT,” Vij said while talking to the mediapersons after holding a meeting of the State-level COVID Monitoring Committee.
The State Government had also requested Bokaro to supply 50 MT of oxygen and the approval has been received. Apart from this, the State Government has requested Jharkhand Government to supply 40 MT medical oxygen.
Vij said that all the big industries have been directed to convert industrial oxygen into medical oxygen to meet the needs of the state. To overcome the shortage of oxygen cylinders in the state, industries would have to deposit their cylinders with the concerned Deputy Commissioners, otherwise their cylinder stocks would be acquired. Besides this, the police will also keep a close vigil on the movement of oxygen tankers and the supply process, he said.
A police official will be seated alongwith the driver in the truck of oxygen supply from now onwards. Police will also be deployed outside the premises of the distributors of medical oxygen supply in the state, he said.
Vij said that all the private and government hospitals of the state have been directed to set up their own oxygen plants so that oxygen shortage can be avoided in future.
To expand health infrastructure to deal with the situation arising due to Corona, the Minister said that 20 vehicles each of Dial 112 would be deployed in all the districts so that these vehicles can be used as ambulances. We have 600 vehicles allocated to Dial 112 service, he said.
He further said that the MBBS and final year PG students studying in medical colleges will also be deputed so that the patients do not face any problem in the hospitals.
The Deputy Commissioners have been directed to make arrangements of additional beds in their districts. For this, the use of vacant halls, schools, dharamshalas and the support from social organizations can be taken, Vij said.
Apart from this, government employees of the state who are suffering from COVID-19 infection would be provided with the facility of cashless treatment in private hospitals, he added.
HRY DEMANDS 20000 REMDESIVIR INJECTIONS FROM CENTRE
Haryana Government has demanded about 20,000 Remdesivir injections from the Central Government for providing timely treatment to the Corona patients.
“So far, 1,000 out of 20,000 injections have been made available and about 3,000 injections will be available by Tuesday,” said an official spokesperson.
The spokesperson said that out of these 20,000 Remdesivir injections received from the Central Government, about 10,000 Remdesivir injections will be made available in private hospitals and 10,000 injections will be made available in government hospitals, so that COVIOD-19 patients admitted to private and government hospitals can get this injection for their treatment.
In addition, the government is taking concrete steps to curb the hoarding of Remdesivir injections and seeking a daily report on the consumption and availability of this drug in the market, he said.