The Tamil Nadu government has launched a 24 X 7 call centre to resolve ‘any issues’ faced by hospitals related to supply of medical oxygen. Hospitals, nursing homes in Tamil Nadu facing any shortage of medical oxygen can make a call at 104 for assistance, the state government said on Saturday. Amid worsening Covid crisis in the country, the demand for medical oxygen from hospitals and nursing homes is expected to rise. The state government has also instructed oxygen manufacturing industries to ‘explore methods’ to increase production.
Currently, Tamil Nadu has the capacity to produce 400 Metric Tonnes (MT) of oxygen per day and almost all the production is by private companies. The state currently has a daily demand for 240 MT of medical oxygen. It boasts of an additional storage capacity of 1200 MTs per day and the excess medical oxygen is being stored in many facilities across the state.
“In order to resolve any issues related to medical oxygen supply faced by hospitals, nursing homes, the government has established a 247 call centre under the State Drug Controller.Hospitals, nursing homes in Tamil Nadu facing any shortage of medical oxygen may immediately call 104 for assistance,” the release said.
Tamil Nadu has nearly one lakh active cases (95,048) out of the total 10.51 lakh and on Friday, the state reported 13,776 fresh infections. 78 deaths were reported on Friday and the state’s cumulative death toll is now 13,395. The state is currently estimating that during a peak, they would require 450 MT of medical oxygen every day.
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Tankers carrying medical oxygen are being provided ‘Green corridor’ facility for quick transportation along with police escort wherever necessary to increase availability of oxygen, the official release said.
