ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday said that despite rapid increase in coronavirus cases, the oxygen supply situation in hospitals is under control due to the proactive decisions taken by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to increase oxygen production capacity and import more oxygen cylinders.
He, however, added that the next few weeks are critical.
“Total number of critical care Covid-19 patients on oxygen had reached 5,360 on Thursday. This is 57 per cent more than the peak in June last year,” he said in a series of tweets.
“Alhamdulillah [we] have so far managed to cope with this huge increase because of proactively building capacity of the entire system from oxygen production to beds,” he added.
The minister, who is also the NCOC chief, said, “Total oxygen production operational capacity in Pakistan last year was 487 tonnes per day. It has been increased to 798 tonnes. Actual production had gone up from 465 tonnes per day last June to 725 tonnes currently. We also imported 19,200 oxygen cylinders last year to ensure distribution.”
He said that the federal government had added 2,811 oxygen beds all over Pakistan last year whereas the provinces had also added more.
The minister said despite having more than 2,000 additional Covid-19 patients on oxygen, compared to the peak in last June, the country is not facing shortage in oxygen supply, that was seen last year.
Asad said the NCOC decided to import 6,000 tonnes oxygen, 5,000 cylinders and 20 cryogenic tanks. “It is this proactive decision making, which has with Allah Almighty’s blessings helped us avoid the kind of scenes being witnessed in some other countries.”
He noted that foundations of this proactive decision making have been data-based forward looking and analytical approach, nationally coordinated efforts and hard work of dedicated teams, who continued to steer the efforts through these difficult times.
“However, the challenge is not over and in fact it is continuing to increase. The need for precautions and compliance with the coronavirus standard operating procedures is vital at this point in time. Next few weeks are critical. No system can cope if we allow the disease to spread rapidly,” he added.
Eariler, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar had said the government is “exploring all options” to arrange additional supplies of oxygen for the country. Azhar had said in a tweet that the ministry of industries has started working with private oxygen manufacturers to enhance production capacity after the pandemic’s first wave last year.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Health Dr Azra Pechuho on Friday warned the people that they must take extra precaution in the wake of first the United Kingdom and now the South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants being detected in the province.
In a video message released by the Health and Population Welfare Department of Sindh, Dr Pechuho said that in a genomic study carried out by Aga Khan University Hospital of 13 samples, 10 were found to have the UK variant, one had the South African variant and one had the Brazilian variant.
“So you can understand the nature of the emergency, the pressure that it can cause on hospitals. The UK variant is one that spreads very fast. It has an infectivity rate of 60% and a fatality rate of 68 per cent,” she said, adding that the fatality rates of the South African and Brazilian variants are also “very high”.
Dr Pechuho said that what adds to the concern is that the South African and Brazilian variants “are not vaccine responsive” and so someone who catches Covid-19 via one of these strains is likely to fall “very ill” despite being inoculated.
She advised the masses to avoid crowds, including small social gatherings inside homes, as well as travelling unnecessarily.
“If you do not do Eid shopping this year, it will not be that big of a deal,” she said.
The health minister said that the “carelessness” being shown by the masses in general has sent alarm bells ringing, warning that the health infrastructure will be completely overwhelmed with ventilators, oxygen and beds proving insufficient if things continue this way.
Dr Pechuho warned that if we do not take the required precautions, we could face a situation like that of India.
She said that we should adopt a “pro-active approach”, because if the situation aggravates, “there is no way to stop it”.
“We may have to do a lockdown but before that happens, take care of yourselves, your loved-ones and your neighbours, because humanity demands that we take care of and think of others,” the health minister stressed.
