Although about 140 tons of oxygen arrived in Sri Lanka in two ships from India, the Health Ministry sources warn that the oxygen supply in the country will be sufficient for another 7 days considering the increased oxygen requirement of the Covid patients who are currently receiving treatment.
According to the sources, the daily oxygen requirement for patients undergoing treatment in hospitals of Sri Lanka has increased to 117 tons. This figure is expected to reach 140 in the coming week. In addition, local oxygen producers supply about 77 tons of oxygen daily. However, considering the current daily requirement, the stock of oxygen arriving in the country will be sufficient for another seven days, the sources said.
Although it is more practical to use oxygen concentrators, the procurement process is not yet complete, with an increase of about 6 to 10 tons per day. In order to meet this increasing demand for oxygen, the government has taken steps to bring emergency stocks of oxygen from India. Accordingly, vessel SHAKTHI belonging to the Indian Navy and another SHAKTHI vessel belonging to the Sri Lanka Navy arrived carrying 140 tons of oxygen and it is stated that there are about 240 tons of oxygen in the existing warehouses in the country.
In addition, the health sector is urging the public to act responsibly at a time when the country is closed, as the most appropriate course of action in the event of another oxygen outage from India is to prevent the further spread of the disease.
