How memorial is India’s oxygen emergency? The circumstances are worse than the government claims

05

Oct

How memorial is India’s oxygen emergency?

Prakshi Rawat

The oxygen deposits in India are rapidly depleting. Though all oxygen is shifted to medical use, it is possible this will run out of stock.

The oxygen crisis in India has worsened

Major hospitals in the nation's capital were also on the edge of running out of oxygen. In a Madhya Pradesh town, oxygen cylinders were stolen. At a time when exhausted Covid-19 patients are unable to find hospital beds, Uttar Pradesh has placed limitations on actual purchases of oxygen cylinders. In Maharashtra, 22 people died as a result of an oxygen leak. Charges were traded between states for oxygen blockades.

The Delhi High Court instructed the Central government to dispatch paramilitary groups to guarantee safe passage to oxygen tanks headed towards the capital in, triggered by a top private hospital in Delhi claiming that it only had oxygen stock remaining for few days

Why has India's oxygen shortage really become extreme?

The Indian government reported that the country was using less than 60% of its daily oxygen production for medicinal reasons.

The health ministry stated in a news release that the country has a daily manufacturing capacity of 7127 MT [metric ton] of oxygen per day. “the country's medical oxygen uptake was 3842 MT [metric ton], or 54% of the daily production capacity.” The ministry also claimed that there have been stocks of more than 50,000 mt.

Supply is insufficient to fulfill demand

For example, actual supply is more complex than the power generation duality implies.

India’s total daily output of oxygen is 7,127 mt. The majority of this is created in cryogenic air separation units that increase production of oxygen. The science underlying these plants is direct: ambient air is reduced to the point where the total major points, nitrogen oxides, separate according to their melting degrees.

However, not many of the oxygen gas by cryogenic air separates is intended for medicinal use. A sizable part is used for industrial uses.

The Central government banned producers from providing air for non-medical use but 9 industries were exempted: based on the previously and vials, pharmaceuticals, steel plants, petroleum refineries, nuclear energy facilities, oxygen cylinder manufacturers, waste dumps, food and water purification – process industry relies on heaters running continuously.

According to an official with the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization” and spoke on request to remain anonymous, these 9 industries use around 2,500 metric tons of oxygen. The organization, which is part of the Commerce and Industries Ministry's department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, is in charge of monitoring oxygen distribution in the country.

This left little over 4,600 mt available for medical purposes.

This creates a frightening atmosphere. There were almost all active coronavirus cases in India and since then, the figure has grown by more than 70% to more than 21,57,000 individuals.

According to a government official overseeing oxygen use, India's weekly medical oxygen requirement is presently around 70% higher than the quantity that has been exempt from commercial use - 4,600 million ton.

Based on current demand, Indian economic stocks of 50,000 mt would barely cover two weeks of demand if used to cover the shortfall of medical oxygen plants (3,400 metric tonnes). This is assuming that all of the reserves are used for medical reasons and that demand doesn't quite increase.

The Delhi High Court urged the central government to avoid using oxygen for industrial uses when it could be used for medical reasons. It did not, however, issue any orders to that effect.

The Prime Minister's Office, on the other hand, put out a statement on. Availability of Liquid Oxygen plant has been increased by about 3,300 MT/ day especially in recent days with contributions from private and public steel production, industries, oxygen manufacturers, as well as through banning of amounts of air for non-essential industries."

“Against the market trend of 6,785 MT/ day of Oxygen liquid plant from 20 states, the Government of India has granted 6,822 MT/ day to these states,” it said. and does not provide information about the overall utilization of health oxygen across all 28 states and 9 union territories.

This came after such a wave of announcements from huge corporate groups declaring they had redirected oxygen from their manufacturing sites to medicinal reasons.

Even if India's full daily oxygen supply of 7,127 mt is transferred to medical usage, the country will still face shortages. According to the Central government's own court testimony, the current cost of medical oxygen (8,000 metric tons) currently exceeds joint manufacturing capacity of industrial and oxygen plants (7,127 million ton) by 870 mt.

However, considering coronavirus cases are increasing at an increasing rate, consumption is expected to grow. Experts are expecting a flood of cases in the upcoming days, with after some – or the average individuals one coronavirus patients were more likely to spread – at more than two in many big countries.

The authorities announced an extraordinary import contract for 50,000 mt of oxygen. When the imports will land in the country is uncertain.

Geographical and economic issues

The oxygen problem in India isn't only about a worsening demand-supply imbalance.

Even if the Indian government diverts all oxygen diffusion to medical uses and the number of coronavirus cases does not climb in the weeks that followed, the country will confront a major logistical challenge transporting and storing the oxygen.

This is due to differential distribution of oxygen supply across the country.

According to government statistics, some of the rising Covid-19 states in North and Central India, like Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, lack considerable production capability. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and West Bengal account for roughly 80% of India's total committed oxygen production, according to official data compiled

According to officials who asked to remain anonymous, India has successfully expanded by about 20% since then, but the geographic bias remains. Although some expired units, especially in the western India, have been work packages, the increase is due largely to raising the efficiency of existing facilities.

The logistical difficulties of shipping liquid clinical oxygen are considerable. It demands the use of cryogenic tankers, which are expensive. As a result, steel mills in north - east india that generate their own gas are experiencing difficulties transferring oxygen to other states.

In India, Odisha has the fourth-largest capability for providing oxygen. Its medical oxygen need is now lower than 12 states since to lower Covid-19 incidence rate.

“However, even if we could have quantities in which we can afford to provide after satisfying our own demand, there seem to be simply not enough tankers to transport oxygen,” said Ruab Ali, the state's nodal officer for oxygen supply. “As a result, the government is changing nitrogen and gas tankers to oxygen tankers.

Professionals in the industry agreed. “The difficulty is, oxygen from the plant has to reach the participant's mask,” said a cryogenic tanker maker in South India who did not like to be recognized. “And ordinarily, daily oxygen needs are limited to approximately 300-400 mt, and our infrastructure is intended to match that need, but demand has unexpectedly risen enormously. Infrastructure cannot be created in a single day. For tankers, there seems to be a set manufacturing time.”

Storage is an issue.

The difficulties do not stop with transit. Once the gas has arrived at its final destination, it should be kept in cryogenic tanks or cylinders. Both are becoming increasingly rare as a result of companies' claims that they would be ready.

“Demands for 10,000 bottles per day are high, and that we can only produce 2,000 per day,” said Puneet Khurana of Mumbai-based Everest Kanto Cylinders, one of India's major producers. “Last year, the government tried contacting us and estimated our requirements, but this year there will be no plan because it all happened overnight. This is why there is this limited supply.”

A similar dilemma has already been uncovered in conversations with producers of cryogenic tanks, which are used by hospitals to store liquid oxygen plants. “Our capacity is built on typical demand, but if demand goes up tenfold, we won't be able to cope pace,” said Munjal Mehta of Shell-n-Tube Private Limited, a Pune-based cryogenic cylinder manufacturer. “The solution is for hospitals to invest in infrastructure over time since manufacturers would not have the power to satisfy demand that is 10 times higher.”

Concentrated solutions are indeed being neglected

India's oxygen shortage could've been mitigated in proportion if the nation had spent the past year to build local services in the form of small-scale oxygen plants within hospitals on such a collision course.

According to people in the know and regulatory experts, building a Pressure Swing Adsorption oxygen generator in a hospital takes only four to six weeks. Based on the Central government's spending of Rs 201 crore for 162 oxygen plants, the estimated price is just Rs 1.25 crore. According to a Tamil Nadu-based producer of PSA oxygen plants, India has 6 years of experience constructing them.

However, as our research found, the Central government wasted eight months to issue a tender, and only five of the 60 hospitals we visited had PSA oxygen plants.

These 162 plants might have added a tiny amount of storage - only 154 metric ton of daily oxygen output. But it's unknown what stopped India from increasing the amount to 10 times the average level, considering that oxygen is critical for saving lives in a variety of medical circumstances, not just Covid-19.

The government could've gained 1,540 metric tons of additional daily medical oxygen capacity for Rs 2,000 crore. Significantly, this ability would reside on-site and would not have been subjected to logistical or transportation challenges.

This on-site ability would have been incredibly useful in places like Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, which had little capacity for oxygen production.