Cong claims that India’s oxygen exports have risen more than 700% amid COVID-19

Amid the scarcity of oxygen for the treatment of patients at a time when the country is seeing a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections in the country, a news media has published a report claiming that oxygen exports with more than 700% increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, which raises questions about Central Government policy.

The fact-checking of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) discouraged the report and stated that the annual export of medical oxygen was less than 0.4% and that there is currently no export of medical oxygen. The fact that the report is untrue stated by the PIB Fact Check that the export of industrial oxygen is incorrectly regarded as medical oxygen on the basis of which the report was apparently published.

PIB fact-checking also labeled Congress’s social media post as false. The post claims that the export of oxygen from India increased by 734% between Jan 2020 and Jan 2021.

Government sources said during the conversation with ANI that malicious propaganda is being spread that India barely exported medical oxygen during the 2020-21 pandemic year.

“The majority of these industrial oxygen exports were in December 20 and January 21 when medical oxygen consumption halved to 1418 MT / day from a high of 2675 MT / day in September,” the sources told ANI.

From April 2020 to February 2021, India exported 9,884 MT of industrial oxygen, while only 12 MT is medical oxygen, the sources said.

This revelation comes at a time when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of Congress, also slammed the center over the oxygen crisis in the country. In an interview with ANI, Priyanka Gandhi said that India produces 7,500 MT of oxygen per day, at the height of the last wave, the cumulative use of oxygen in hospitals across the country was less than half that amount per day.

“We produce enough oxygen, the government simply did not create the necessary logistics to supply it across India. It had the whole period between the first and second wave to do it. It did nothing,” she claims. .

“Why did it not make arrangements if a second wave was inevitable? The country has a shortage of oxygen because there was no strategy, it is the government’s failure and bad planning,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

“India’s production capacity for oxygen is one of the largest in the world. Then why is there a shortage? You had 8-9 months (between first and second wave), your own Serosurveys indicated that a second wave is imminent , you ignored it, “she said.