Special train carrying 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen arrives in Lucknow from Bokaro

Lucknow: Amid the scramble for medical oxygen as COVID-19 cases across the country continue to surge, a special train carrying 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen arrived in Lucknow from Bokaro, Jharkhand on Saturday.

“Oxygen Express train carrying liquid medical oxygen has arrived in Lucknow at 6.30 AM,”  UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said.

“The Oxygen Express train carrying 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen arrived in Lucknow from Bokaro, Jharkhand,” the senior UP government official said.

Uttar Pradesh is currently witnessing a surge in cases. As per the Union Health Ministry, there are currently 2,59,810 active cases in the state.

Earlier on Thursday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Mohanlal Ganj, Kaushal Kishore in a video message alleged that "COVID patients are suffering and dying" and claimed that oxygen cylinders were not being supplied to private hospitals.

He claimed to have spoken to two oxygen cylinder suppliers who said that the drug inspectors had instructed them "not to send oxygen supplies to private hospitals, but only to government hospitals."

"Owing to the constant shortage of oxygen supply at private hospitals, a lot of patients are suffering, and some are even dying," said Kishore.

It may be noted that Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently reviewed the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country, particularly in view of reports of shortage of oxygen supply coming from several hospitals across the country.

Shah directed various measures to augment the supply of oxygen for medical purposes. The Home Ministry issued an order directing the State/ UTS to take various measures to ensure an uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen across the country.

On Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's order, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has airlifted big, empty oxygen tankers and containers to various filling stations across the country on Friday to speed up the distribution of the much-needed medical oxygen in treating COVID-19 patients.

According to officials, besides transporting essential medicines as well as equipment required by the designated COVID hospitals in various parts of the country, the IAF also airlifted doctors and nursing staff from Kochi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru for various hospitals in Delhi.