TN has more than enough oxygen as of now: Minister

Chennai, June 4 Tamil Nadu Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian has said the state has more than enough oxygen at present. He was speaking to the media after inspecting the oxygen bed facilities in Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupathur districts.

The Minister said, "We have more than the required quantity of oxygen. When Chief minister M.K. Stalin took over the control of administration the availability was 230 metric tonne, but we now have 660 metric tonne and the requirement is only 500 metric tonne. We are receiving oxygen from Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Durgapur plants."

Earlier on Friday, Subramanian inspected the Covid-19 prevention measures, vaccination centres, containment areas, and availability of oxygen beds in Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupathur districts.

He said, "More than 1,000 additional beds with oxygen facilities are arranged in these three districts for treatment of Covid-19 patients."

The minister said Vellore district is topping the number of RT-PCR tests conducted, adding, that 7.55 lakh people have been tested in the district which is half its population.

Ma Subramanian said, "Within a week the Covid-19 cases have dropped drastically in Vellore."

The minister said across the state, beds with oxygen support are also available and more than 30,000 beds were available as on Thursday, adding that the number of cases was declining in the state and the number of patients recovering was on the rise.