Keypoints:
- The company is planning to increase medical grade oxygen production capacity to 1000 tonnes.
- Supplies being made to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will be providing relief to over 70,000 critically ill patients everyday.
- Sources have said that industrial oxygen is being diverted to produce medical grade oxygen.
Sources have said that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance industries has tweaked manufacturing at its Jamnagar oil refineries to produce over 700 tonnes a day of medical-grade oxygen which is being supplied free of cost to states badly affected by COVID-19. Initially, Gujarat’s Jamnagar refineries produced 100 tonnes of medical-grade oxygen, which has quickly been ramped up to over 700 tonnes, people aware of the matter said.
Supplies being made to states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh will be providing relief to over 70,000 critically ill patients everyday. Sources have said that the company is planning to raise capacity of medical-grade oxygen to 1,000 tonnes, without giving a timeline. They have also said that industrial oxygen is being diverted to produce medical-grade oxygen.
With the rising demand for oxygen due to rapid surge in Covid-19 cases, Reliance has set up equipments and has set up processes to produce and supply medical-grade oxygen.
“Every day nearly 700 tonnes of oxygen is being supplied to states across India. This will provide relief to over 70,000 critically ill patients daily,” one of the persons said.
Full supply of oxygen, including its transport in special tankers at minus 183 degrees Celsius is made at no cost to the state governments. Sources say that this was a part of the company’s CSR initiative.
India Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) too have begun to divert oxygen produced at their refineries,thus, to supplement the availability of medical oxygen in states worst hit by COVID-19.
On Monday, IOC has said that it has “begun the supply of 150 tonnes of oxygen at no cost to various hospitals in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.”
BPCL have said that it has started supply of 100 tonnes of oxygen at no cost.
Dhanraj Nathwani, Vice President, Gujarat Cricket Association and a close associate of the promoters of Reliance, in a tweet on Tuesday said: “400 tons of #oxygen is being supplied to #Gujarat by the Reliance Jamnagar, on a daily basis. This shows our commitment for Gujarat.”
Reliance Foundation has set up the country’s first Covid hospital in Mumbai in collaboration with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The 100-bed hospital was set up in just two weeks, which was soon scaled up to 250 beds.Reliance also produces 1,00,000 PPE and face masks per day for India’s health and frontline workers.
