oxygen as the country’s pandemic surges at the fastest rate in the world and manufacturers scramble to plug the gaps in the supply and transportation.Most plants producing medical oxygen are concentrated in eastern and western India, leaving large areas of the densely populated north and center without quick access to the essential medical supply.
The capital, New Delhi, and the states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, with a combined population of some 200 million -- nearly as many people as Brazil -- don’t have a single unit manufacturing oxygen.In March, when India had some 1,300 confirmed coronavirus infections, the country was using around 750 tons of oxygen a day, said Saket Tiku, president of All India Industrial Gases Manufacturer’s.