Demand to divert surplus stock of oxygen for industrial use

Aurangabad, May 29:

Demand for medical oxygen declined as the number of corona patients in the district began to go down. With an abundant supply of oxygen and lower demand than before, the district has an average stock of 20-25 tonnes of liquid oxygen. However, now the entrepreneurs have demanded to divert the surplus stocks to the industrial sector.

With a rise in the number of patients, the demand in the city had risen from 14 metric tonnes on March 1 to 65 to 70 metric tonnes by April. Over the last ten to fifteen days, the demand has again come down to 38 to 40 metric tonnes. Outbreaks of coronavirus increased in March. The number of patients increased rapidly compared to the previous year. As a result, the demand for oxygen, including medicines, increased in 2021 compared to March 2020. The number of patients using oxygen in hospitals and home isolation had also increased. As a result, the demand for cylinders for domestic oxygen consumption, including in hospitals, had increased five to six times in a single month. But the demand for oxygen has been declining since last week. The demand was 37.34 tonnes on Friday. The demand for private hospitals in the district was 22.39 tonnes while for government hospitals it was 14.95 tonnes. At present, the district has adequate stocks compared to the demand, the food and drug administration said. Meanwhile, the operations at steel, fabrication, engineering units were adversely affected due to lack of oxygen. However, since the demand for oxygen has reduced by 20-25 tonnes, the entrepreneurs have now demanded to divert the remaining stock to the industrial sector.

Planned distribution of oxygen

There is now surplus stock of oxygen remaining with the administration. Therefore, the administration should review the remaining oxygen and start distributing 80 per cent medical and 20 per cent industrial oxygen on the lines of the first corona wave. Doing so will help start the economic cycle in MIDC. Planned distribution of oxygen will curb the black market, said Massia president Abhay Hanchanal.

More than 4000 tonnes stock in state

The demand for oxygen in the state had increased sevenfold. Yet at present the state has adequate reserves of oxygen. At present, the state consumes 450 tonnes of oxygen per day and currently has more than 4,000 tonnes of oxygen in stock. Therefore, if the patient grows in the coming period, the oxygen will not decrease. The oxygen production capacity of the state is 1,287 tonnes.