Cyclone `Yaas': AP govt asked to ensure adequate oxygen supply for COVID patients
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that cyclonic storm `Yaas' may hit five states including Andhra Pradesh.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 24 May 2021 9:55 AM GMT
Vijayawada: Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that cyclonic storm `Yaas' may hit five states including Andhra Pradesh. Centre has directed the five States including Andhra Pradesh to effectively manage COVID patients by ensuring an adequate supply of food, medicine, and other necessary infrastructure.
In this regard, ensuring uninterrupted Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) becomes critical considering the fact that AP is largely dependent on supplies from steel plants located in eastern India which is Angul, Kalinganagar and Rourkela. Any disruption of the supply from these places can cause severe distress in AP.
In order to mitigate the risk of any such disruption, the AP government has taken initiative to increase the supplies from Orissa in the last 2 days using Oxygen Express trains in order to maintain buffer stocks in all the districts.
Almost 100 MT of LMO has been sourced from Rourkela, Orissa and a further 100 MT is expected before 24th May from Orissa through Oxygen Express.
Apart from this, the Government of AP has taken steps to monitor and ensure that the regular supply of almost 200MT using road transport tankers from Angul, Kalinganagar & Rourkela is not interrupted due to cyclone Yaas. The state has been in regular coordination with the local administration of Orissa to ensure seamless supplies.
`International Committee of the Red Cross' through Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) is handing over 120 MT of LMO through 6 ISO Cryogenic tankers of 20 MT each to GoAP at Visakhapatnam Port, Andhra Pradesh on 23rd May 2021. This 120MT shall be placed as a reserve stock in Guntur & Tirupati as a buffer stock in case of emergency.
"We thank Reliance Industries Limited, Jamnagar for supporting Andhra Pradesh by supplying more than 200MT of LMO in three Oxygen Express trains. We are thankful for their kind gesture which has really helped to manage the situation in view of increased caseload resulting in the requirement of more oxygen," the government said.
The state government has alerted the energy department to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the 3 important LMO sources located in the State Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Vizag, Ellenbarrie Industries Limited, Vizag and Liquinox Gases Pvt. Limited
These three sources together account for a supply of 210 MT of LMO and are crucial for ensuring Oxygen supply in the State.
Besides, there are 49 re-fillers who convert the liquefied Oxygen into gaseous form and distribute it through cylinders for last-mile use to various hospitals. Power supply to these re-fillers has to be ensured without any interruption and Energy department has taken measures regarding the same.
The government has asked the Collectors to ensure uninterrupted power supply to all the hospitals by checking the availability of Diesel Generators. It was instructed to make arrangements for standby Generators in case DG sets are not available in any hospital.
