Jammu and Kashmir received on Friday its first batch of 19MT Liquid Medical Oxygen driven all the way from Air Liquide Panipat in three cryogenic tankers.Official sources said the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha has been reviewing the day to day requirements of medical oxygen, medicines and other medical equipment across the UT and giving directions to the officials to augment the infrastructure and utilize all available means of resources at hand to mitigate the Covid effects on common people.Three senior police officers have been tasked to station in states where factories of Liquid Medical Oxygen exist and to liaise closely with the stakeholders ensuring its hassle-free delivery to the Union Territory (UT), said official sources.Substantial improvement has been seen in the oxygen generation capacity of the UT since first wave of COVID-19 last year. As per official figures, the present overall oxygen generation capacity stands at 1.5 lac cubic meters as compared to the consumption of only 1,03,219 cubic meters which is only two-thirds of the total availability.Further, the cumulative availability of oxygen in hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir from in-house oxygen generation plants has marked a six-fold increase from 8,920 litres per minute (LPM) in April 2021 to 53,150 LPM in May 2021.Six months back, Jammu and Kashmir only had 19 oxygen generation plants, however today the scenario has completely transformed with 40 oxygen generation plants and another 39 plants with 33,325 LPM capacity coming up in the next two months.According to the Union Health Ministry, Jammu and Kashmir has 29,615 active COVID-19 cases. The total number of recoveries has reached 2,63,961 and fatalities have mounted to 4,026.
