Pune: Administration Gears To Meet Increasing Oxygen Needs In The District 

Pune, March 31, 2021: The COVID-19 patients in the Pune district should not suffer due to the lack of oxygen. For this, oxygen should be produced at full capacity and the supply should be in order, said District Collector Dr Rajesh Deshmukh. 

He held a meeting with the oxygen producers and suppliers in the district at the Collectorate on Wednesday. 

“At present, Pune district has a demand of 135 metric tonnes of oxygen and producers have 790 metric tonnes of oxygen reserves. So, it seems that there is no shortage of oxygen at the moment. However, the number of COVID-19 patients is increasing across the State, including Pune. As the number is increasing, many people will need oxygen. Therefore, the oxygen cylinder manufacturers should produce enough oxygen. They need to chalk out a plan to produce more oxygen so that there will be no shortage of oxygen in the future,” the collector said.

The problems faced by producers and suppliers of oxygen were discussed during the meeting. 

“The COVID-19 vaccine will be made available for the workers and oxygen tanker drivers at the oxygen production plant,” informed Deshmukh. 

A district-level committee has been constituted to maintain oxygen supply at COVID-19 hospitals and health centres, the collecter further informed.

“Producers and suppliers should contact the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if they have any problem,” appealed Suresh Patil, Joint Commissioner, FDA’s Pune division.

The State as well as the district have been receiving complaints of insufficient oxygen supply to COVID-19 patients for the past few days. There is a temporary shortage in some places due to the inadequate distribution of oxygen in Maharashtra. 

Considering that the rising number of COVID-19 patients in the future and the need for oxygen will increase, suggestions have been issued to improve the oxygen supply. 

The district collector has constituted a committee to monitor the supply of oxygen to the hospitals in the Pune district. The district’s resident deputy collector will coordinate with the collector’s office regarding the regulation of oxygen supply.  

The district’s assistant commissioner and the Department of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will coordinate with oxygen producers and plan the distribution from the bottling plant.

General Manager, District Industries Center, Pune is expected to increase production and coordinate with producers. The Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Pune and Pimpri will coordinate for the planning of on-time transport of oxygen tankers. 

The district’s deputy commissioner and Disaster Management Department have to inform the district surgeon about the daily oxygen supply to all the public health departments, medical education departments, municipal corporations, and private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients in the district.

The district surgeon has to compile the daily oxygen requirement of all the public health departments, medical education departments, municipal corporations, and private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients in the district and provide a copy of the information collected to the district’s resident deputy collector. 

The district health officer, Zilla Parishad, Pune has directed all public health departments, medical education departments, municipal corporations, and private hospitals to provide oxygen daily to the COVID-19 patients in the district.

Functions of the district-level committee

The committee should be in contact with the bulk suppliers of the bottling plants to meet the daily need so that every hospital receives oxygen on time.

The responsibility of maintaining the oxygen supply has been given to the control room set up for monsoon under the district’s Disaster Management Authority. The control room should be used to solve problems related to oxygen supply.

Pune District Disaster Management control room telephone number is 020-26123371. If the control room line is busy, people can call the FDA control room on 022-26592364 and toll-free on 1800222365. 

According to the order, the committee should ensure that oxygen supply to any hospital is not disrupted, said Dr Deshmukh, who is also the Chairman of District Disaster Management Authority.