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As many as 196 Oxygen Express have delivered 11,800 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to 13 states, as the country battles the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data released by the Railways, 521 tonne of LMO has been offloaded in Maharashtra, 2,979 tonne in UP, 498 tonne in MP, 1,507 tonne in Haryana, 653 tonne in Telangana, 97 tonne in Rajasthan, 481 MT in Karnataka, 200 MT in Uttarakhand, 440 MT in Tamil Nadu, 227 MT in Andhra Pradesh, 81 MT in Punjab, 117 MT in Kerala and 3,978 MT in Delhi.

To scale up their activities in support of nationwide efforts to battle the pandemic, the Railways are also planning to equip all its 86 hospitals across India which have been identified as Covid hospitals, with oxygen plants. Currently, 4 oxygen plants are functional, 52 are sanctioned and 30 are under various stages of processing.

The national transporter will fast track the process to cover all the hospitals with oxygen plants. “We plan to achieve this as quickly as possible. Work will start in June. This would also usher in better infrastructure to handle medical emergencies,” a Railway spokesperson said.

In other measures being launched by the national transporter, the number of beds for Covid treatment have been increased from 2,539 to 6,972, invasive ventilators have been added and their number increased from 62 to 296 and efforts are being made to add critical medical equipment like BIPAP machines, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders in Railway hospitals.