Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made an urgent appeal to the Centre to resupply Kerala’s fast diminishing supplemental medical oxygen stocks.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, Mr. Vijayan said Kerala was cresting the second wave of COVID-19 infections. The surge in cases was massive.
The requirement for liquid medical oxygen was on the ascend. The State requires to stock up the life-saving compound urgently. Its current stock is plunging fast due to heavy daily demand.
The State required 1,000 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen. He requested the Union Ministry of External Affairs to issue the oxygen from imported stock. Mr. Vijayan sought 500 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen immediately. The Centre could deliver the rest from the nearest steel plant, he said.
He also requested the allotment of 50 lakh Covishield and 25 lakh Covaxin doses for Kerala.
Mr. Vijayan’s SOS to the Centre comes amidst a scramble to build COVID-19 care capacity in Kerala, given the upward spiral in new infections. The daily death rate was also slowly mounting.
At least one government medical college hospital was operating in almost total capacity,
Ventilators and oxygen beds were increasingly at a premium. By one account, private hospitals had reported 85% bed occupancy.
Mr. Vijayan had said on Tuesday that the pandemic situation was grim. The pestilence was yet to peak. The storm was coming.
The government had imposed curbs on civic life to ensure the surge did not become a tsunami that would swamp Kerala. The government had commandeered hotels and turned them into COVID-19 treatment centres.
