The Union government’s direction to divert 45 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from Tamil Nadu will not affect the requirement of hospitals since the State is producing it in surplus, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said on Wednesday.
The State’s manufacturing capacity is 400 metric tonnes as against the current consumption of 240 metric tonnes. The storage capacity was increased to 1,200 metric tonnes at all major hospitals across the State during the first wave of COVID-19, he told The Hindu. Dr. Vijayabaskar said sufficient oxygenation pipeline infrastructure was also developed with the help of the Public Works Department last year to meet future demands. “We are very much willing to help the neighbouring States. But what worries us is the mandatory diversion clause... We have made it clear to the Union government that there would be no compromise on our demand-supply ratio. Helping others will certainly not be at the cost of our needs.”
The Minister said Tamil Nadu’s future requirements of liquid oxygen would be closely monitored. “There will be no question of diversion of liquid oxygen by denying it to hospitals or patients here,” he said, adding that a couple of oxygenation plants were expected to come up in the State soon.
