No shortage of oxygen, beds or ventilators in Tamil Nadu: Madras HC informed

The Madras High Court was on Thursday informed by the Tamil Nadu government that the state has sufficient stocks of oxygen and Remdesivir vaccines and is not facing any shortage of beds or ventilators currently amid the unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases.

Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee, while hearing the suo motu case to check on Tamil Nadu governments' preparation to deal with the rising Covid-19 cases in the state, asked about the availability of vaccines, ventilators, Remdesvir and oxygen in Tamil Nadu.

Advocate General Vijay Narayan informed the count that the state has 31,000 vials of Remdesvir as of Thursday morning, and the government is providing the viral drug at a cost of Rs 783 to private hospitals, against a maximum retail price of Rs 4,800.

The Advocate General said the state has the capacity to manufacture 400 tonnes of oxygen per day but its requirement is only 150 tonnes a day. "So, 65 tonnes was diverted to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana recently," he said.

Narayan informed the court that the state is not facing any shortage of beds or vaccines currently, and said, "Tamil Nadu has 9,600 ventilators in the government sector. Of them, 5,887 are earmarked for COVID-19 patients. Private hospitals have about 6,000 ventilators. Of them, 3,000 earmarked for COVID-19 patients," he said.

The court observed that if Tamil Nadu is producing oxygen more than it needs then "it should help other states".

The high court adjourned the matter till Monday.

( With inputs from ANI )