The State government has issued guidelines for the usage of oxygen after an expert committee ruled that there was excessive use of oxygen as a treatment.
In a circular issued on Friday, Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, said there is an “unprecedented surge in the demand of oxygen” to treat COVID-19 patients.
“The clinical expert committee has conducted an analysis of the usage of oxygen, which reveals that there is a non-judicious and excessive use of oxygen therapy without proper monitoring. Excessive usage, besides having deleterious health effects, is resulting in the wastage of a precious resource leading to shortage of the commodity and waste of money,” the circular states.
With the panel recommending guidelines for judicious use of oxygen as a therapy to treat patients, the oxygen therapy protocol has been finalised for all health institutions and doctors to strictly adhere to. This, the circular added, will ensure that injudicious usage of oxygen will be reduced and can be saved for patients who really need it.
Recently, patients were shifted out of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Institute owing to shortage of liquid oxygen. Following this, many private hospitals said they too were experiencing similar problems, with the demand for liquid oxygen shooting up in the last few weeks. They also said vendors were unable to provide them with the supply they needed and the cost of liquid oxygen too had increased.
.png?w=600)
