Govt bans industrial use of oxygen to increase supply to hospitals

In the face of grave concern over the feared oxygen crisis in the country, the government has directed to stop oxygen supply for industrial use and ensure its uninterrupted supply to the hospitals and clinics.

The Department of Explosives issued a directive in this regard on Tuesday afternoon.

Coronavirus cases and fatalities have peaked in Bangladesh in the last few weeks.

Keeping similar pace, the demand for medical oxygen has also increased at hospitals as the Covid patients have been suffering from severe oxygen saturation problems.

Against such a backdrop, India has recently halted the export of oxygen without any notice, since the country has been experiencing acute shortage of the emergency medical resource in several states.

India exported 690 tons of oxygen to Bangladesh through Benapole port from 13 April to Wednesday last.

Sources said a large portion of Bangladesh's medical oxygen demand is met by imports from India. Around 30 thousand tons of oxygen is imported every month from India through Benapole alone.