Telangana not feeling pinch yet

Hyderabad: Though the number of corona cases are increasing rapidly in the State and acute shortage of oxygen is being experienced, the State Government still seems to be in a denial mode.

"We have the capacity to produce more oxygen but allocation of liquid gas is under the Centre's purview. The officials are in constant touch with the Centre to see that there would be no shortage of oxygen," said Minister for Health Eatala Rajender.

The minister said that as on date the requirement of oxygen was 260 tonnes but if corona cases continue to rise, demand may go up to 350 tonnes. The Minister said patients should not put undue pressure on doctors for oxygen. According to Health officials, there are only 12,500 patients admitted in various hospitals while the State has a capacity of 50,000 beds.

They asked people not to get panicky. The Minister further said that the State was ready to vaccinate 10 lakh people a day but there were no stocks of vaccines.

He said the Centre should make necessary arrangements to supply the required quantity of vaccine. He said he spoke to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. About 2.5 lakh doses would reach the State by Sunday night and vaccination would begin again from Monday. Meanwhile, the Congress party has asked the government to open a war room for monitoring supply of oxygen to hospitals and availability of beds and required medicines in the hospitals.

Scientists and medical professionals urged the government to take effective steps to see that the standard operational procedures, particularly proper wearing of masks by people, were ensured.

They also feel that cinema halls should be closed or the number of viewers should be restricted to half so that social distancing can be maintained. They also are of the opinion that pubs and bars should be closed and movement of people in malls should be restricted.