Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Apr 27: As the COVID-19 cases are going up with every passing day in J&K, particularly Kashmir, the units dealing with the production of medical oxygen today said that the demand from the hospitals has increased by almost 50 per cent.
Talking to Excelsior, a couple of owners of the units dealing with the generation of the oxygen at Industrial Estate Khonmoh and Sanat Nagar and are supplying the same to various hospitals said that they are witnessing a considerable increase in the demand of the oxygen supply from the hospitals from the last few weeks now.
“From my plant, on daily basis, less than 100 cylinders were dispatched to SKIMS Soura, but the same number has gone up and at this point of time, we are dispatching around 300 cylinders to SKIMS Soura every day,” Muhammad Murtaza of Mian Gases in Srinagar told Excelsior.
He said that the same is the case with other hospitals where the demand has also gone up including that of SMHS, SKIMS Bemina and Kashmir Nursing Home, Sonwar. “It is visible that there is an increase in the oxygen demand from the hospitals in Srinagar,” he said.
At another oxygen generation plant at Sanat Nagar, Excelsior has learned that the oxygen being supplied to major hospitals from the plant has also witnessed a steep increase.
Muhammad Shafi of JK Gases at Industrial Estate Sanat Nagar said that they used to supply around 200 cylinders to SKIMS, Soura per day until a few weeks back, and now the same has gone up and has reached 650 cylinders per day.
Similarly, the SMHS Hospital Srinagar used to be supplying around 150 cylinders per day from the oxygen generation plant, however, the same has gone up to 450 cylinders per day.
The oxygen generation plant owners said that they are working three shifts a day and are keeping the plants up and running to meet the increased demand.
“We are working tirelessly round the clock and are meeting the increased demands for the last few weeks,” the owners said.
Notably, the plants have suspended the production of oxygen for industrial use, and are focusing entirely on the production for medical use.
“We are aware of the situation and we will make sure that there is no shortcoming from our end about meeting the demand that has arisen out of the increased number of COVID-19 cases,” they said.
On the other side, the oxygen plant owners that are catering to the needs of the small nursing homes as well as for the use at homes told Excelsior that they are also witnessing a considerable increase in the oxygen demand.
“We usually receive cylinders to be refilled from homes and small hospitals; we too have seen an increase in the demand and we are trying our best to meet the requirements,” Muhammad Altaf of North End Enterprises in Srinagar told Excelsior.
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