Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday launched ''Sanjeevani Vehicles'' - oxygen trucks to rush to any hospital in state capital Ranchi in case of an SOS.
Similar vehicles are planned to be deployed at other districts including Dhanbad and Jamshedpur.
Flagging off the vehicles, Mr Soren said the entire country was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and Jharkhand was no exception.
He said the state government which is closely monitoring the situation has taken the initiative of Sanjeevani Vehicles under which the trucks with oxygen centre will rush to any hospital in case of a crisis.
He said such vehicles will be equipped with GPS tracking systems and it would ensure that no hospital faced an oxygen crisis.
The chief minister said that Sanjeevani Vehicles will remain in 24X7 operation mode. Oxygen cylinders will always be available in these vehicles.
He said that the government is constantly working towards ensuring the availability of oxygen and other medical resources for better treatment of the infected people.
Advertisement"At present, oxygen and ventilators are most needed. Keeping this in mind, free oxygen supported beds are being provided to the patients in Ranchi and Jamshedpur through the Covid circuit," he added.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand-based steel plants have been supplying medical oxygen to various states amid the COVID-19 crisis.
AdvertisementDomestic giant Tata Steel has stepped up the supply of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to 800 tonne per day from its plants, including in Jamshedpur, while SAIL through its arm in Bokaro is pumping oxygen to the states that are facing an acute shortage.
Responding to the national urgency, Tata Steel is currently supplying 800 tonne per day of LMO to various Indian states and hospitals, through its manufacturing units in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Kalinganagar (Odisha), and Dhenkanal (Odisha), an official said.
AdvertisementIt is supplying liquid medical oxygen to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha, among others.
State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has supplied 4,695 tonnes of LMO to various states since April.
The Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) of SAIL has supplied 4,694.51 metric tonne of liquid medical oxygen to Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand from April 1 to May 2, an official said.
Of this, 1,561.53 tonne was supplied to Uttar Pradesh, followed by 1,000.03 tonne to Bihar, 860.08 tonne to Madhya Pradesh and 858.98 tonne to Jharkhand.
BSL also supplied 311.57 tonne of LMO to Punjab, 28.41 tonne to West Bengal, 21.75 tonne to Andhra Pradesh and 19.13 tonne to Maharashtra during the period.
Linde India's plants in Jamshedpur are also supplying oxygen to various states.
Jharkhand chief minister had recently said that a total of 58 tonne of LMO was sent to Delhi from the Linde India plant in the state.
