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In its efforts to step up the availability of medical oxygen, UP is set to become the first state to float global tenders to get as many cryogenic oxygen containers as possible. Noida authority will issue the global tender by Saturday.
“The state had  32 tankers before the demand shot up, but now nearly 90 tankers are being used and efforts are underway to increase the number of oxygen tankers. The state has also been provided tankers of 400 MT capacity by the Centre,” a government spokesman said.
Acting swiftly to meet the high demand of oxygen requirements, the state government has also procured oxygen tankers from business majors like Reliance and Adani Groups.
Meanwhile, the government arranged for a supply of about 1,032 MT of oxygen on May 6, of which 612 MT was supplied only through refilling. It was the largest-ever supply volume in a single day and far more than the supply in several other states.
Besides, a total of 10 MT of oxygen for trial purposes was also supplied to the Covid hospital set up by DRDO in Varanasi on Thursday, which is going to be operational in the coming days.
To ease the oxygen crisis amidst the unending demand, two more Oxygen Express trains carrying liquid medical oxygen (LMO) arrived at Lucknow on Friday. Besides, UP will also receive 80 tonnes of oxygen from Jamnagar (Gujarat) on Saturday.
For effective utilisation of oxygen and eliminating its wastage in crisis, the Home department has been instructed to formulate an action plan by accessing demand, reviewing availability of the life-saving fluid and maintain adequate supply on a daily basis to ensure synergy across all public, private hospitals in all the districts and the state government. The chief minister also issued directives to ensure oxygen was supplied to the patients in home isolation.
Officials were instructed to prepare a detailed action plan and ensure transparent distribution of oxygen.