May 7, 2021

New Delhi: The whole government approach has made India’s fight against Covid-19 decisive. From the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to public sector undertakings, the whole of the Central government is working in unison to launch a decisive battle against the coronavirus. The

Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization (PESO) has decided not to carry out physical inspection of global manufacturers’ production facilities before grant of registrations and approvals.

Steel companies from across the country, from both public and private sectors, have stepped up efforts to meet the nation’s requirement of medical oxygen. Minister of Steel and Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan last week had held a series of meetings with captains of steel companies of both public and private sectors. He had called for doing everything possible to enhance supply of medical oxygen from steel plants and also for building jumbo-sized Covid-care facilities with oxygenated-beds to augment the healthcare infra.

The Indian Navy has stepped up its Covid Relief Operation – Samudra Setu II – with ships from all three Naval Commands in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi, deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen and associated medical equipment from friendly foreign countries in Persian Gulf and South East Asia.

Indian Naval Ship Talwar entered the port of New Mangalore in Karnataka on May 5, ferrying two 27 tonne liquid oxygen tanks from Bahrain. INS Kolkata, deployed in Persian Gulf, also departed Kuwait on May 5 after embarking two 27 tonne oxygen tanks, 400 oxygen cylinders and 47 concentrators. In addition, four warships are also en route to Qatar and Kuwait to embark around nine 27-tonne oxygen tanks and more than 1500 oxygen cylinders from these countries.

In a significant development, two medical oxygen plants funded by PM CARES have been installed at AIIMS, New Delhi and RML Hospital within a week. Carried out on a war footing, the two plants were swiftly airlifted from Coimbatore and installed on May 6. Both the plants have started the supply of oxygen.

There are more than 100 private hospitals registered in Vidarbha Hospitals Association, Nagpur facing difficulties in supply of oxygen due to which they approached MSME-DI, Nagpur and met PM Parlewar, Director, MSME-DI, Nagpur with a request to support them for setting up of oxygen plants under the Cluster Development scheme of Ministry of MSME. They have been given the permission to set up oxygen plants and meet the needs of hospitals.

Overcoming all hurdles and finding new solutions, Indian Railways is continuing its journey of bringing relief by delivering liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to various States across the country. So far, Indian Railways has delivered over 2067 metric tonnes of LMO in 137 tankers to various States across the country. /BI/