With the rate of Covid cases plummeting across the country, hospitals are running out of oxygen supply for patients.
The Centre has reported that of the total 7,500 metric tonnes of oxygen being produced in India per day, 6,600 metric tonnes is currently being allocated to states for medical use, adding that efforts for increasing its supply is constantly being worked upon.
Amidst the shortages of oxygen supply for medical use, steel and petrochemical industries are coming forward and diverting oxygen for medical use and supplying it to hospitals in different states.
Reliance Industries Ltd has informed that it is currently producing 700 tonnes of medical-grade oxygen in its Jamnagar oil refineries and is supplying them to severely affected Covid-19 states for free.
Ambani’s Reliance Industries Produces 700 Tonnes Oxygen/Day
With incessant rise in coronavirus infections, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd has installed and set-up required equipment and processes in its Jamnagar oil refineries to produce medical-grade oxygen, to meet the growing oxygen demand in the country.
RIL’s Jamnagar refineries in Gujarat was initially producing 100 tonnes of medical-grade oxygen but has now increased its production to 700 tonnes a day.
The company supplies the produced oxygen to critically hit Covid states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and is known to aid over 70,000 serious patients every day.
Sources have informed that RIL is planning to ramp up this production quantity to 1,000 tonnes in near future.
It is to be noted that in oil refineries like Jamnagar’s, medical-grade/use oxygen is not an already produced product, as crude oil is converted into diesel, petrol and jet fuel.
Furthermore, RIL is also supplying the daily produced oxygen to state governments in special tankers at -183 degree Celsius at no additional costs, as a part of its CSR initiative.
Private and Govt Oil and Steel Plants Producing Medical-Grade O2
Besides Reliance Industries, steel and oil companies in the country are coming forward to contribute their share of medical-grade oxygen produced for treating Covid patients.
On April 18, Tata Steel informed about supplying 200-300 tonnes of medical oxygen to different state governments and hospitals, on a daily basis.
India’s largest steel maker, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) tweeted on April 17 that it has supplied 99.7% purity of over 33,300 tonne of liquid medical oxygen from its integrated steel plants across the country to various hospitals.
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India too added it is supplying about 200 tonnes of medical oxygen from its plant in Hazira to hospitals in Gujarat, showcasing its social commitment and safeguarding communities during the pandemic.
Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), both owned by the government have also started to divert oxygen produced at their refineries to supplement the availability of medical oxygen.
IOC informed on April 19 that it has started supplying 150 tonnes of oxygen at no cost to various hospitals in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, while BPCL informed about supplying 100 tonnes of oxygen, free of cost.