Oxygen supply system in the State will be streamlined in three-four days as the Union government has agreed to increase allotment, Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Sunday. He was speaking to officers in Belagavi.
According him, the Centre will increase oxygen allotment to the State in line with the Supreme Court judgment.
Apart from this, the oxygen produced in Ballari that was allotted to Maharashtra has been re-allotted to Karnataka. To a query, he said that he would talk to Ministers in Maharashtra about curbs on oxygen transportation from Kolhapur to Belagavi. This will address the scarcity to a great extent, he said.
He asked officers to allot enough ventilators to hospitals and see that they were staffed with skilled persons to operate them. However, it is the duty of government officers, doctors and others to see that only optimum oxygen is used in hospitals and it is not wasted.
He said that the State government had allowed BIMS to appoint additional staff and asked officers to complete recruitment immediately. “We can have 822 additional beds in BIMS if oxygen supply is increased,” he said.
Officers told him that the rate of infection in Belagavi district was around 28%. The district now has 6,380 active cases.
Deputy Commissioner K. Harish Kumar said that district in-charge Minister Govind Karjol had informed him that Belagavi district was getting four more oxygen plants. They were expected to start functioning in a few months, he said. Mr. Karjol had also informed that Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda had promised to increase Remdesivir injection allotment to Karnataka.
MLA Anil Benake asked officers to clarify their stand about supply of oxygen cylinders to NGOs and those in home isolation.
Member of Parliament Mangala Angadi, officers and others were present.
Published - May 09, 2021 08:34 pm IST
