Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asked the Centre for 250 to 300 metric tons of additional medical oxygen, 70,000vials of Remdesivir every day as against the daily allocation of 27,000 vials and 12 crore doses of vaccination to cater to 18 years to 44 years’ age group.
Speaking at a virtual meeting held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uddhav said that Maharashtra required 1,550 metric tonnes of medical oxygen to treat Covid-19 patients every day and about 300 to 350 metric tons was being procured from outside, he said. He urged the Centre to arrange the supply of additional medical oxygen from neighbouring states.
“Empty oxygen tanks should be flown back to refilling plants to save on transportation time if it was not possible to airlift oxygen,” the chief minister said.
He asked the Prime Minister to provide 13,000 jumbo oxygen cylinders and 1,100 ventilators to Maharashtra.
“We have more than 60,000 patients in the state are on oxygen while there are 76,300 oxygen beds and over 25,000 additional oxygen beds are being arranged.... Given its requirement, Maharashtra should get 250 to 300 metric tons of additional oxygen,” the chief minister said.
Dwelling upon the requirement of Remdesivir vials, Uddhav said: “Maharashtra needs 70,000 vials of Remdesivir every day but is getting only 27,000 vials and we should be allowed to import the medicine."
On the issue of vaccine requirement, the chief minister told the Prime Minister: “Maharashtra has about 5 lakh doses of vaccine in stock as of now.......Maharashtra has 5.71 crore people in the 18 to44 age group. We will require 12 crore doses. Our vaccine manufacturers will not be able to produce the required doses in a short time. The corporate sector should also be given permission to purchase vaccines under their Corporate Social Responsibility obligation".