Never Again: Making Sure Patients Get the Air They Need

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was especially bad in India. Patients filled hospitals as the Delta variant swept the country in April of 2021. As many as 2,000 people died every day.

Many died literally gasping for air. Although India is a major producer of medical oxygen, supplies ran out amid the unprecedented demand. And while some areas of the vast country had access to medical oxygen, there was no good system for transferring them to places with more need.

It was a horrifying disaster as people who might otherwise have survived succumbed to COVID-19 or other conditions for lack of medical oxygen.

India wasn't the only country with this type of crisis. Oxygen became a black market item in Peru, Supplies were rationed in the UK and patients lined up to fill empty oxygen cylinders in countries around the world, including Brazil, Somalia, and Indonesia. 

It should never happen again, says Varun Manhas, Associate Director of Public Health Programs for the One Health Trust. Varun is working to build a national oxygen grid for India and then share the blueprints with the world.

The National Medical Oxygen Grid isn't what would come to mind for many. It's a cellphone-based app to help hospitals and health officials keep track of where medical oxygen is needed and where supplies are plentiful. The app could be used to make sure no one runs out of oxygen in future crises.

You can hear more about the Global need for medical oxygen in this earlier episode of One World, One Health.