The facilities were entrusted with the procurement, transport and storage of the life-saving gas
Under pressure to close the gap between supply and demand for medical oxygen and solve the logistical problems associated with it, the state government has set up a State Oxygen War Room (SOWR) and is in the process of ensuring similar facilities in EU districts .
These “war rooms” were commissioned to procure oxygen, organize the transport to facilities designated by COVID and ensure safe storage for the coming months.
The sharp increase in the number of COVID patients who require oxygen to survive has led the government to give top priority to expanding production and supply infrastructure and setting up “war rooms” to ensure proper coordination that is necessary for the Prevention is of vital importance to deaths.
According to an official press release, the SOWR and DOWR will ensure that necessary medical oxygen is delivered to the district headquarters hospitals and other key COVID facilities and refills in a timely manner. The responsibility to collect oxygen and assign it to the districts rests with SOWR, which is also charged with overseeing the use of the life-saving gas.
Knot officers
The SOWR is headed by the IAS officers MT Krishna Babu and S. Shan Mohan. They are supported by node officers from the Industry, Medicine & Health, Transportation, Revenue & Disaster Management (R&D), Police and IT departments.
Each of these departments has been assigned specific tasks to accomplish the larger task of providing unhindered oxygen to hospitals.
The industrial department was also asked to get oxygen from all possible sources and even reopen the closed units to produce as much oxygen as possible. More importantly, type B and D (industrial) cylinders are being converted into medical oxygen cylinders.
Green channel
The role of the research and development, transportation and police services is to ensure the smooth transport of oxygen canisters and cylinders and to get the life-saving gas from Karnataka, Odisha and Tamil Nadu as well as from the Visakhapatnam Steel Mill (VSP), which is an essential one Contributes to the oxygen supply. Police will facilitate oxygen transport by opening green channels everywhere wherever necessary.
The transportation department will move the oxygen tanks and cylinders on trains and in the air if the situation calls for it. It will also play a crucial role for the IT department by tracking oxygen transmissions via GPS and GIS mapping.