Insider reported that India produces 7000 pounds of oxygen a day. Most of it is for industrial use. However people are dying for lack of oxygen. Liquid oxygen has to be stored at -297 degrees Fahrenheit. India doesn’t have enough Cryogenic tankers to store and transport the increased demand due to COVID-19.
For safety reasons oxygen can not be transported by air, it has to be transported by road or train. It is this distribution problem which is causing people to die due to lack of oxygen.
People are having to turn to a Sikh temple which is offering an ‘Oxygen Langar‘ in the street outside the temple to anyone who comes. Gurpreet Singh Rummy the president of Indirapuram Gurdwara said, “We believe no one should die due to a lack of oxygen. Oxygen is a small thing, but these days people treat oxygen like god. If you can get it, it will save your life.”
One in four patents who get into a hospital need oxygen. Some hospitals have asked people to bring their own oxygen cylendars. The black market has inflated the prices on oxygen cylendars. One man paid $600 for oxygen which is about nine times it’s usual price. Researchers have determined that the overall death toll inn India is likely 10 times higher than the numbers being reported with over a million dead.