Following directives to Indian steel mills to divert oxygen from their captive plants, India’s Ministry of Steel has directed the latter to set up 10,000 oxygenated hospital beds to treat Covid-19 patients, a government official said on Monday, May 3.
The official said that, in view of the limited availability of cryogenic tankers to transport liquid oxygen from steel mills to hospitals across the country and allied logistical challenges, steel mills will set up oxygenated beds for treatment of patients close to their oxygen plants.
If it is a problem to take oxygen to patients across the country, it has been decided to take patients close to the source of oxygen production, the official said.
As per the directive of the ministry, government-run steel mills like Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) have been asked to set up 5,000 beds linked to their own oxygen plants, while another 5,000 bed facilities will be created by private steel companies like Tata Steel JSW Limited, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel and Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).
India is currently the worst-affected country in the world hit by the second wave of the pandemic, registering over 400,000 cases per day in recent consecutive days, with hospitals in several regions of the country reporting an acute shortage of oxygen to treat patients.