Why India is facing an oxygen crisis as Covid cases mount | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
May 30, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2025
Why India is facing an oxygen crisis as Covid cases mount

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
23 April, 2021, 08:35 pm
Last modified: 23 April, 2021, 08:39 pm

Related News

  • India beats forecasts with 7.4% growth in January-March
  • Assam family alleges 2 people illegally pushed back to Bangladesh; Gauhati High Court seeks state's response
  • India for 'inclusive, fair, free' polls in Bangladesh at an early date
  • BSF reportedly pushes 43 people more into Bangladesh
  • Google begins direct online sales of Pixel phones in India

Why India is facing an oxygen crisis as Covid cases mount

Several hospitals in Delhi, which has no significant oxygen production capacity, made frantic public calls this week seeking emergency supplies

Reuters
23 April, 2021, 08:35 pm
Last modified: 23 April, 2021, 08:39 pm
Patients suffering from COVID-19 share a bed as they receive treatment at the casualty ward in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital in New Delhi, India April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
Patients suffering from COVID-19 share a bed as they receive treatment at the casualty ward in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital in New Delhi, India April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo

By air, by train and by road, India is scrambling to move large quantities of medical oxygen to hospitals in its capital New Delhi and other areas hit hard by a record surge of Covid-19. 

Are Hospitals Running Out Of Oxygen?

The main problem is that medical oxygen is not reaching hospital beds in time. This delay is a product of where production units are located, a stretched distribution network, and what critics have said is bad planning.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Several hospitals in Delhi, which has no significant oxygen production capacity, made frantic public calls this week seeking emergency supplies. 

With Covid-19 cases also swamping its neighbouring states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, oxygen facilities there are over-stretched attempting to meet local demand.

To fulfil Delhi's current needs, additional medical oxygen now has to be trucked in from industrial zones in eastern India.

Why Are Oxygen Deliveries Getting Delayed? 

The facilities from where Delhi will now receive oxygen are spread across seven states, some more than 1,000 km (625 miles)away, according to a court document.

Given the hazardous nature of the substance, all liquid oxygen must be transported in a limited number of specialised tankers, requiring advance planning to ensure deliveries are made on time, a gas industry source told Reuters.

In recent days, as a scramble for oxygen among states worsened, local officials in some regions disrupted movement of tankers in a bid to keep supplies for themselves.

In part due to such blockades, Delhi only received about 177 tonnes of oxygen on Wednesday against its allocation of 378 tonnes, an official said.

But the industry source said that Delhi had also dragged its feet on planning ahead, without factoring in the time it takes to move oxygen cross-country by road.

"This problem wouldn't have happened if they had acted 2-3 weeks ago," the source said.

Delhi's government did not respond to questions about the planning.

Does India Have Enough Oxygen? 

India has a daily production capacity of at least 7,100 tonnes of oxygen, including for industrial use, which appears to be enough to meet current demand.

This week, the government allocated 6,822 tonnes of liquid oxygen per day to 20 of the country's worst-affected states, compared to their combined demand of 6,785 tonnes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office said on Thursday.

India's total medical oxygen demand was just 3,842 tonnes as of April 12, as the surge in cases really took hold.

States are typically allocated supplies by an inter-ministerial group of bureaucrats mandated to monitor and facilitate the flow of essential medical kit during the pandemic.

Modi's office has noted that the availability of liquid medical oxygen had increased by about 3,300 tonnes in the past few days, with steel plants and other industrial units diverting their production.

What Is India Doing To Solve The Crisis?

The federal government has activated the Indian railways to move multiple tankers from refilling plants to where it is most needed.

Working with industrial gas major Linde India and others, the government is also using the Air Force's cargo planes to fly empty tankers to production hubs. Refilled oxygen tankers will then move back by road.

The armed forces are importing 23 mobile oxygen generation plants from Germany.

Several other industries are offering oxygen to hospitals, while salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group is importing 24 specialised containers to transport liquid oxygen.

The government has issued orders to convert argon and nitrogen tankers into oxygen ones.

But as some experts predict a trebling of daily infections in a few weeks, India will have to dramatically ramp up both oxygen production and distribution systems.

Top News / World+Biz

Why / India / facing / oxygen / crisis / COVID-19

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus meets Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Japan on 30 May 2025. Photo: CA Office
    Bangladesh, Japan to sign Economic Partnership Agreement by year-end
  • File photo of BNP BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury
    Speaking about country’s problems in foreign trips won’t solve them: Khasru takes jibe at Yunus
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    'Heavy to very heavy' rainfall expected across country as land depression weakens further

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Courtesy
    New notes featuring historic, archaeological structures of Bangladesh to be circulated from 1 June
  • Two Memoranda of Understanding were signed at the seminar titled “Bangladesh Seminar on Human Resources,” in Tokyo on 29 May 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Japan to recruit 100,000 Bangladeshi workers over next 5 years
  • BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
    BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
  • Representational Photo: Collected
    Country's all jewellery shops to remain indefinitely closed in protest of VP Reponul's arrest: Bajus
  • Khondoker Rashed Maqsood. File Photo: Collected
    Investors urge removal of BSEC chairman in meeting with CA’s special assistant, submit list of demands
  • Illustration: TBS
    Bangladesh repays $3.5b foreign debt in 10 months of FY25

Related News

  • India beats forecasts with 7.4% growth in January-March
  • Assam family alleges 2 people illegally pushed back to Bangladesh; Gauhati High Court seeks state's response
  • India for 'inclusive, fair, free' polls in Bangladesh at an early date
  • BSF reportedly pushes 43 people more into Bangladesh
  • Google begins direct online sales of Pixel phones in India

Features

Babar Ali, Ikramul Hasan Shakil, and Wasfia Nazreen are leading a bold resurgence in Bangladeshi mountaineering, scaling eight-thousanders like Everest, Annapurna I, and K2. Photos: Collected

Back to 8000 metres: How Bangladesh’s mountaineers emerged from a decade-long pause

5h | Panorama
Photos: Courtesy

Behind the looks: Bangladeshi designers shaping celebrity fashion

7h | Mode
Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar

Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

12h | Features
For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

1d | The Big Picture

More Videos from TBS

Six Lakh Sacrificial Animals Ready in Sirajganj for Eid-ul-Adha

Six Lakh Sacrificial Animals Ready in Sirajganj for Eid-ul-Adha

2h | TBS Stories
Six MoUs signed during Chief Advisor's visit to Japan

Six MoUs signed during Chief Advisor's visit to Japan

6h | TBS Today
Record migrant deaths in 2024

Record migrant deaths in 2024

1d | Podcast
Govt likely to trim subsidies in new budget

Govt likely to trim subsidies in new budget

9h | TBS Insight
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net