Reza Mahmud :
The coronavirus crisis has led to a rush to buy oxygen cylinders for use at home as the non-Covid patients, who are required to use oxygen, find it hard to get the facility at hospitals.
Besides, the price of these cylinders has shot up manifold due to sudden rise in demands for past few days.
The price of a medium quality oxygen cylinder and necessary equipment has skyrocketed to Tk 26,000 from Tk 5,000, according to buyers and traders.
In this situation, the authorities have asked dealers to issue oxygen cylinders if a patient has a prescription from an authorised medical officer.
It is not necessary that this prescription should get from a government health official. Even a private medical practitioner can issue such prescription.
However, experts raised concern over the private use of oxygen cylinders as the patients do not know how to operate these cylinders.
They also warned that the practice of carrying the cylinders at home can cause accident at any time.
There are dire scarcity of beds for both Covid-19 and other patients. That is why some patients prefer taking oxygen at home rather than waiting for treatment outside the hospital.
In hospitals piped oxygen is crucial to saving the lives of patients who develop acute respiratory problem because of the novel coronavirus infection.
Public health experts said that around 15 per cent of all coronavirus cases in Bangladesh could be treated with supportive care and oxygen therapy, while less than 5 per cent would require ventilator support and critical care.
This underlines the importance of oxygen availability – more vital than ventilators.
Experts have anticipated that the demand could rise in the future – once the lockdown is lifted, and if there is a rise in coronavirus cases.
Public health experts as well officials from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said no one should buy and use oxygen without doctors’ prescriptions.
Both of them said using cylinder oxygen without doctors’ prescription and skilled hand may cause serious damage in the patient’s lung.
Sources said, derived by fear of being infected with coronavirus a section of people rush to buy oxygen cylinders which created multiple hazards for all. “In case of respiratory problems of Covid-19 patients, it is highly needed to supply oxygen from centrally arranged oxygen supply centres in Covid-19 dedicated hospitals. Using oxygen cylinder may not fulfil the necessity of the patients suffering from serious respiratory problem,” Proferssor Nazrul Islam, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, told The New Nation yesterday.
In these view, the oxygen cylinder may not be helpful for Covid-19 patients in case of their respiratory problems whenever staying home.
Dr. Ayesha Akhter, Assistant Director Health Emergency Operation Center and Control Room of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told The New Nation, “The patients whose oxygen circulation from breathing is below 90 percent need to use supplied oxygen through cylinder at home or hospitals or centralize supply systems in hospitals.”
But whose oxygen circulation are above 90 do not need oxygen, she said.
She said, every Covid-19 patient does not need oxygen, and in the case of their necessity there is available oxygen in the dedicated hospitals.
“In the case of providing cylinder oxygen to the patients, the doctors must prescribe how much oxygen to provide to the patient. Over or low supply may cause huge damage in the patient’s lung. So, skilled operating persons or trained nurses are a must to provide oxygen to the patients,” Dr Ayesha Akhter said.
Linde Group and Spectra Group are enlisted for supplying and refilling oxygen for government hospitals in the country.
Besides, some other companies are doing business of oxygen cylinder after getting licences from Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA).
Medishop is one of the oxygen cylinder providers. Contacted, Rakib Uddin, the founder of the Medishop said before the coronavirus outbreak, they could not sell or rent out even 50 cylinders in a month but are now getting thousands of calls a day for the product.
He said that the company lacks the capacity to supply as per the demand.
Stakeholders said that the huge rush of the unaware people to buy the oxygen cylinder to stock for `emergency needs in future’ creates acute suffering for the ordinary patients who suffers from asthma, pneumonia and other respiratory problems.
