New Delhi: Amid an oxygen and vaccine crisis that has hit many states while the country continues its fight COVID pandemic, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to produce a "national plan" for the supply of oxygen supply, essential drugs, and method of vaccination.
The apex court issued notice to the Centre asking them to submit its plan at a time when many hospitals across states with a high number of COVID patients said that they are left with just a few hours of oxygen. Max Hospital in the national capital Delhi was forced to move to the
Delhi High Court on Wednesday as the hospital was left with just four hours of oxygen. Another Delhi hospital, St. Stephens had to send out an SOS message for oxygen.
An ugly battle had erupted between the state governments of Delhi and Haryana over the movement of oxygen trucks to Delhi.
The Supreme Court would be hearing the case on April 23, Friday.
Meanwhile, amid the growing shortage of oxygen, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the oxygen supply across the country and discuss ways and means to boost its availability.
"The officials briefed him on the efforts undertaken in the last few weeks to improve the supply of oxygen," an official statement said.
The PM spoke about the need to work rapidly on multiple aspects: increasing the production of oxygen, increasing the speed of distribution & using innovative ways to provide oxygen support to health facilities.
The officials informed that an elaborate exercise is underway in coordination with the states to identify their demand for oxygen and ensure adequate supply accordingly. Against the present demand from 20 states of 6,785 MT per day of Liquid Medical Oxygen, the Government of India has from 21st April, allocated 6,822 MT per day to these states.
In the last few days, availability of Liquid Medical Oxygen has been increased by about 3,300 MT a day with contributions from private and public steel plants, industries, oxygen manufacturers as well as through prohibition of supply of oxygen for non-essential industries.
The Prime Minister directed the officials to ensure that oxygen supply to various states happens in a smooth, unhindered manner. He said that responsibilities need to be fixed with the local administration in cases of any obstruction. He also asked ministries to explore various innovative ways to increase the production and supply of oxygen.
Read moreThe meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Home Secretary, Health Secretary & Officials from Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Road Transport, Pharmaceuticals, NiTi Aayog.
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