Oxygen Fundraiser — All you need to know about oxygen supply in India.
The second wave of the coronavirus has hit hard, and India is facing a shortage of beds in hospitals and a lack of oxygen, medicines, and vaccines. People are dying outside of the hospitals, and medical facilities, too, are facing a crunch. The wave of virus mutations has caught the country by surprise and raised the severity of the pandemic.
At present, oxygen is a life-saving therapy for patients who have trouble breathing. For the treatment of patients at high risk, hospitals require medical oxygen. As most hospitals in India were not prepared for this situation, there is no adequate amount of medical oxygen left. They are also in shortage of pulse oximeters devices that measure blood oxygen levels to help nursing assistants prescribe the oxygen.
The present oxygen crisis all over India brought the governments, NGOs, and other organizations together to supply medical oxygen to the hospitals across India within a short time. You can be a part of the Oxygen India projects to save the patients’ lives by donating oxygen or start a fundraiser campaign with the help of Ketto like-India needs oxygen.
How much oxygen is allotted to various states?
The Union government’s Empowered Group 2 (EG2) reviews the liquid medical Oxygen (LMO) requirements. As of May 13, 2021, India requires 17,179,336 cubic meters of oxygen, approximately 2,454,191 cylinders per day.
The top five states based on the active cases recorded per day are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, UP, and Rajasthan. The government has allocated 1,779, 1,015, 223, 894, and 395 metric tonnes of oxygen per day. It has allocated 4,306 MT/day to the five states of the total allocation of 10,140 MT/day of all the states and UTs.
According to the Ministry of Health, the center has delivered 9,284 oxygen concentrators, 7,033 oxygen cylinders, and 19 oxygen generation plants to different states and union territories between April 27 and May 11.
How is oxygen supply distributed?
The available sources of oxygen are oxygen concentrators, liquid oxygen, and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) Plants. Oxygen gas is compressed and filled in oxygen cylinders. The Indian government is planning effectively to supply oxygen to different states in India by importing the oxygen, increasing production, and restricting industrial oxygen. The central government distributes the medical oxygen to the states according to the number of hospital beds and the active cases. Then it’s the State government’s responsibility to procure medical oxygen to the hospitals.
Why is donation needed?
As India faces a lack of hospital beds and oxygen, many foundations, organizations, and countries have donated oxygen concentrators and cylinders to India. One can donate to oxygen India campaigns on Ketto or start a fundraiser like Mission Oxygen. Ketto is a trusted crowdfunding platform to raise funds for a medical need. So Mission oxygen, India needs oxygen are some of the fundraisers on Ketto helping people recover from the pandemic crisis. So far, Mission Oxygen has raised 46.57 crores.
How much oxygen is needed by a Hospital?
The oxygen needs of the patients vary depending on the severity of their illness. Only 10–15% of the COVID-19 patients in the hospitals need oxygen. In general, severe-case patients require oxygen for seven days, and critical-case patients require it for 14 days. The expert group formed by the government has decided on the amount of oxygen required by a hospital as below.
- 50% of the non-ICU beds need 10 liters of oxygen per minute.
- 100% of the ICU beds require 24 liters per minute.
Conclusion
As the COVID-19 situation is intense in India, there is a demand for medical oxygen. Some of the states have low to zero internal manufacturing capacity of the oxygen, and it has to procure the oxygen from other states. So the central government requested the industries to increase their production of oxygen and started implanting oxygen plants near the hospitals. All we can do from our side is to donate to missions aimed at ensuring more oxygen supply. Let’s donate any amount to a fundraising organization to combat the coronavirus disease. You also have an option to start a ‘donate for oxygen’ fundraiser on Ketto.
