All medical oxygen manufacturers in Karnataka have been asked to augment production to meet the demands of the hospitals treating critical COVID patients, an official said on August 27.

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"All manufacturers of medical oxygen are hereby directed to augment the production and supply liquid medical oxygen without any interruption to meet the proportional demand," said the Principal Secretary at the Commerce and Industries Department. He also advised the hospitals to contact the assistant drugs controllers of their respective areas to resolve any issue of medical oxygen short supply.

The state government has recognised the fact that medical oxygen is essential to treat critical coronavirus patients and also to avoid complications. "The supply of medical oxygen in adequate quantities is an important requirement of managing moderate and severe COVID cases. Besides this, the protocols related to handling of major sources of supplies are also very much essential," he said.

His order comes in the light of delay in supply of liquid oxygen to hospitals. Recently, two hospitals were compelled to shift patients at midnight because of oxygen supply disruption -- Kempe Gowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) and C.V. Raman Hospital in Indiranagar. Because of the unexpected disruption, the C.V. Raman Hospital shifted 17 COVID patients to other hospitals around midnight.

On August 22, the southern state issued oxygen therapy guidelines aimed at arresting the rampant unnecessary excessive oxygen therapy being administered to patients. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Karnataka, which reported 9,386 new cases on Thursday, the highest single-day spike so far, taking the state's tally to 3.09 lakh.