O2 supplies depleting in Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh again sends SOS to Centre
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 25
With oxygen supplies in the state depleting fast, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today sent an SOS to Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan, for the second time in two days, for urgent increase in allocation.
He also directed Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to pursue the request for urgent supply with the Centre, with patient load increasing due to influx from Delhi and other states. He further asked the Chief Secretary to rush urgent supplies to Amritsar, where lives were lost yesterday due to oxygen shortage at a private hospital.
The Chief Minister has sought a report every four hours from the Principal Secretary, Industries, on the state’s hospital-wise demand-supply situation of oxygen. Today’s SOS came after the Centre failed to increase the allocation to Punjab as per the new quota of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) issued on Saturday.
Captain Amarinder had on Saturday written to the Union Health Minister, requesting for an increase in Punjab’s LMO quota to 250 MT daily due to continuous surge in Covid cases.
