Such as IndiaThe number of new cases of coronavirus has exceeded 5 million, and some hospitals in the country are dealing with unreliable supplies of oxygen needed to treat tens of thousands of critical patients.

In the hardest hit states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, demand has more than tripled, leading to urgent calls for help.

“Desperate patients called me all night, but I don’t know when I’ll get stocks,” Rishikhish Patil, an oxygen supplier in the western city of Nashik, told Reuters.

India has the fastest coronavirus epidemic in the world and has added another million infections in just 12 days. It is the second country in the world to have more than 5 million cases, after the United States.

A worker refills an oxygen cylinder at a hospital in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, on Tuesday.

 A worker refills an oxygen cylinder at a hospital in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, on Tuesday. Photo: Adnan Abidi / Reuters

At least 6% of India’s nearly 1 million active cases need oxygen support, Ministry of Health official Rajesh Bhushan told reporters. He said supplies were adequate but state governments should monitor usage and lack of knowledge.

The problem occurs at the facility level if there is no inventory management. “Every country should guarantee this,” Buchan said.

In the capital of Uttar Pradesh, the largest population in India, the total requirement for oxygen cylinders is 5,000, compared to 1,000 in normal times, a government official said. Meanwhile, an official in Maharashtra state said that the state has decided to cut supplies to neighboring countries to meet the growing demand.

Ravindra Khadi Patil, a doctor who runs two private hospitals on the outskirts of Mumbai, said that two days ago, his oxygen supply had not turned up at the usual time.

Patel made frantic calls to the supplier and then to neighboring hospitals and lawmakers, realizing that if oxygen didn’t arrive soon, it would be too late for some of his more serious patients.

Finally, after midnight, thanks to government official pressure, the oxygen tanks arrived.

“If they had arrived a few hours late, we would have lost five or six patients,” Patel told Reuters.

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