Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has begun the process to procure one lakh oxygen concentrators to tide over the shortage of life-saving gas in the country, the company said in a statement.
ONGC, the country’s largest oil and natural gas producer, has already placed orders for 34,673 oxygen concentrators on overseas vendors for immediate supply. It expects to receive 2900 concentrators by May 21 and the balance in a staggered manner by the end of next month. Orders for another 40,000 concentrators have been placed on domestic manufacturers.
“ONGC has been given the responsibility to procure one lakh oxygen concentrators based on its understanding of global supply chain and logistics. Government of India will bear the cost of procuring these concentrators,” the state-run company said.
ONGC is also helping set up medical-grade oxygen generation plants at 10 government hospitals in three states.
The company is organizing vaccination camps at various work locations across the country for employees and the secondary workforce, as per the statement. “To ensure that vaccination reaches the people of the country, ONGC has also supported COVID vaccine logistics supply chain equipment in Tripura, Nagaland, Gujarat and Uttarakhand,” it said.
In spite of challenges posed by the second wave of COVID, ONGC is able to maintain its production levels with minimal effect on operations, as per the statement.
India is facing a massive surge in Covid cases and deaths and is short on medical facilities to deal with the situation. State-run and private companies are contributing by increasing medical facilities as well as helping with augmenting oxygen availability.
