KARACHI – Ismail Suttar, President of the Apex Body of Manufacturers, The Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), has advised the government to consider importing oxygen cylinders from China to meet the escalating demand for Oxygen gas cylinders in the country amid Corona outbreak. He says that Pakistan has capacity but some shameful lot are doing business and reselling used cylinders at prices as high as 500 percent.
In a Statement, he said that with the confirmed cases reaching 160,000 patients, hospitals have started to report an acute shortage of oxygen cylinders. Similarly, oxygen concentrators and oximetry devices are in short supply and their availability is subject to exorbitant prices. As home-quarantined people look towards sourcing oxygen cylinders, the lack of availability and the high-cost barrier has complemented the worsening health system of the country.
In this dire situation, EFP strongly urges the Government to import oxygen cylinders to manage and contain the ever-increasing demand for oxygen in both the hospitals and the households. As the prices of oxygen cylinders and related essentials continue to rise, now is the time to analyze the existing production capacity of gas plants to judge the feasibility of expanding local production in the medium-term while meeting the current demand through the import route.
“The regulation of the supply chain is also necessary to handle the price and availability issues while ensuring that no one can exploit the national health emergency for personal gains. The singular focus on ventilators must be altered to accommodate the crisis of oxygen cylinders. Hence, the Government should consider the option of importing oxygen cylinders and take proactive measures to ensure the equilibrium between local demand and supply”, Ismail Suttar added.
The EFP President has requested the people of Pakistan, in the name of humanity, to immediately return cylinders once they are done using them.
