Efforts are being taken to tap oxygen from all possible sources to stabilise medical oxygen supply till Sterlite Copper Plant resumes 40 metric tonnes of production -- stopped due to a technical snag, said Minister for Industries, Thangam Thennarasu.
Talking to reporters, he said that the Thoothukudi district administration was closely involved in getting the snag repaired at the earliest. “We are hoping that oxygen production is resumed at Sterlite Copper plant in the next three days,” the Minister said. In the meantime, 40 MT of oxygen was brought from JSW steel plant. All those already involved in production of oxygen have been asked to step up the quantum of supply to Tamil Nadu, he added.
Four cryogenic containers, with a capacity of 20 MT each, from Netherlands was being brought from Nizampur. Similarly, 40 MT of oxygen is likely to come from Rourkela by tonight or Sunday morning and another 40 MT will come from Jamshedpur, Mr. Thennarasu said.
Oxygen got from all these sources would be distributed across the State so that even not a single patient is affected by shortage of oxygen, he said.
The Minister said that even the Indian Air Force is flying empty containers back to different sources for refilling. The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation was taking efforts to procure 12 containers from China.
Meanwhile, 5,000 oxygen concentrators were being procured by Confederation of Indian Industry and other voluntary organisations to meet the oxygen demand. Efforts were also taken to revive dysfunctional units that used to produce oxygen, he said.
