Editorial: Air supply

SOCIAL media posts showing vehicles queueing outside a hospital with oxygen tanks hooked to patients awaiting their swab tests results sent not a few scampering for oxygen in medical supply stores. That, too, became socmed sensation on Aug. 2, 2021, illustrating public fears and anxieties in this pandemic’s Delta episode.

The panic apparently came from news and images from other parts of the world, particularly India, which for a good period had its oxygen supply flow in haphazard. While the industry was confident it could deliver the demand, the problem lay in government red tape, refilling and transport logistics and the lack of a coordinated system of delivery, and thus creating a bottleneck, an Indian health official said. On the other hand, while foreign donors have sent oxygen generators and cylinders by the tons, the supplies were mostly stuck at the customs. While the country’s health care system grappled with the problem, the Covid dead piled up, dismal images of which flooded social media. Thus translating into local fears in our backyard, and we have Cebuanos hauling cylinders of medical grade oxygen into their homes.

We have not come to the point of shortage, or even gasping to a threatening threshold of oxygen supply. A joint statement on Aug. 4, 2021 by the Central Visayas offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assured the public that the region has enough supply. Three Cebu-based manufacturers, the agencies assured, can on average produce between 600 and 800 cylinders a day based on current production and labor force. These factories can ramp up production up to 200 percent should the need arise.

While at that, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) pleased the public when it revealed the facility’s less-featured capacity—its oxygen-generation plant. VSMMC Chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr. said the plant can refill a maximum of 700 cylinders daily, more than adequate for its number of patients.

“Pre-pandemic, we consumed only 350 to 400 tanks per day. We also have a third-party supplier that can provide us additional oxygen if needed,” Aquino said.

VSMMC’s oxygen production can go as far as even supplying smaller DOH-retained hospitals in the region. And this was so because years earlier, the DOH had already determined the system requirement in cases of emergency, said Dr. Aquino.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia had issued an executive order to regulate oxygen sale in the Province, while DOH 7 Director Jaime Bernadas had warned the public against use of medical grade oxygen without expert supervision. Unmonitored use could lead to toxic levels of intake that could cause lung damage.

It appears the oxygen supply issue has been promptly addressed by agencies concerned. Other pressing concerns can be given more time and effort.