Philosophically speaking, the question always is- just how much is enough. In other words, the how much is too much? Realistically speaking, there’s never a better time to attach some philosophical deduction to real life here in India on a matter that’s turned out to be a pressing concern. The one concerned with oxygen supply.
A couple of days back, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal organised a high-level talk with the chief ministers of 10 other states with an aim to address the critical problem that several hospitals were (and still are) facing in their fight against COVID- the critical shortage of supply of oxygen. Interestingly and importantly, even Prime Minister Shri Modi was part of the meet.
Then, a few hours later, the Ministry of Defence got involved as help was sought from Germany, a long-standing partner of India, on the matter pertaining to to the supply of oxygen-making plants. A decision was taken to source no fewer than 23 oxygen-generating plants from Deutschland.
But now comes a piece of development that might pleasantly surprise one and all. So the question is- just what is it about?
Amid calls from various hospitals across different states citing problems with oxygen supply, the revered Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that it is not that India is lacking in its oxygen supply; the issue is about transportation.
And that is not all- the Ministry of Home Affairs also suggested that there is absolutely no need to panic. Now speaking of panic, there’s hardly a day that’s passed in the recent times in India where one isn’t panicking about the critical shortage of the oxygen supply.
So what else is needed to be known?
A statement came from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Additional Secretary, Mr. Piyush Goyal who happened to state, “We are trying to resolve issue of its transportation. The government is monitoring oxygen-carrying tankers on real-time basis through GPS, making them available to hospitals as early as possible.”
Furthermore, the Civil Aviation Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri also shared an important update on the matter pertaining to oxygen supply for India, stating, “Air India on Monday brought 328 oxygen concentrators to India in its New York-Delhi flight, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. “All efforts to strengthen India’s fight against the pandemic are on!”
In his tweet to inform the general public about the arrival of oxygen supply, it was mentioned that 318 Philips Oxygen concentrators on @airindiain flight from JFK airport land at @DelhiAirport!”
At this point in time, India is enduring one of its toughest phases in the fight against the pandemic. As a matter of fact, in the last 24 hours, India recorded no fewer than 3.52 lakh new COVID cases. And if you thought that this was the only troubling factor, then think again- at this point in time, the country’s total infections count stands at a whopping 1.73 crore. From this number, cases in excess of 28 lakh are active.
Further testing is still happening around the country.