India News | Rajasthan Health Minister Tells Centre State Needs More Oxygen

Jaipur, Apr 20 (PTI) Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma Tuesday requested the Centre to ramp up the supply of medical-use oxygen to the state to meet the heightened demand due to the spike in the number of coronavirus cases.

He said the state has adequate number of beds as of now and can raise the number further up to three lakh, but it needs more oxygen to treat coronavirus patients.

He said the state requires 136 MT of oxygen, but it has been allocated 124 MT.

“Of the 124 MT too, only 65 metric tonne is being supplied to Rajasthan,” he said.

He said the plant in Bhiwadi generates 120 metric tons (MT) of oxygen but Rajasthan is getting only 65 MT from there as the Centre has taken control of the plant and distributing the life-saving medical item to other states.

The minister said the Centre has fixed the quota of 1,200 metric tonnes daily for the neighboring state of Gujarat and just 124 metric tonnes for Rajasthan.

He said vaccine, injection and oxygen are life-saver elements during the raging coronavirus pandemic.

Sharma said Rajasthan has been a role model for the country in managing the coronavirus crisis and handling the vaccination programme.

“If COVID-19 vaccine, oxygen and life-giving medicines are made available as per the need, the state can set an example once again,” he said, while demanding more supply of oxygen to the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)