The authorities have ordered a temporary halt on supply of oxygen to industries as a precaution fearing shortage for COVID-19 patients following an acute crisis in India.
The Department of Explosives issued the instruction to the oxygen producers to ensure uninterrupted supply for coronavirus patients, its Chief Inspector Abul Kalam Azad said on Tuesday.
The department will monitor the plants if necessary, he added.
Earlier, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Bangladesh will not face a crisis of medical oxygen given the number of coronavirus patients currently taking treatment in hospitals.
Bangladesh produces about 150 tonnes of liquid oxygen everyday and 200 tonnes more through supply lines while the country’s hospitals now need 100-150 tonnes of oxygen daily, according to him.
But a rapid rise in the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients will stretch the supply of oxygen, the minister warned, referring to the situation India is facing now after crises in Europe and the Americas.
As the demand for oxygen increased by 40 percent in the past few days, the country’s largest oxygen producer Linde Bangladesh was delivering the entire 90 tonnes of its daily output to public and private hospitals, Saika Majed, head of the company’s human resources department, said on Monday.
