COVID experience to help improve healthcare in long term: Report

Chandigarh: The experiences gained during the COVID-19 pandemic will be beneficial in improving the health systems and health outcomes in the long term, observed experts from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, and Union ministry of health.

The experts, though, stated that a comprehensive pandemic response in the future would need more than just oxygen. It will require ensuring that patients get timely access to the necessary equipment and trained healthcare workers, this was mentioned in the critical appraisal of the oxygen mitigation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in India done by the experts from AIIMS, Bathinda, and Union ministry of health.

During the peak of COVID-19, hospitals treating infected patients across the country suffered acute shortage of medical oxygen due to an unprecedented surge in oxygen demand. There were also reports of people dying due to medical oxygen shortage.

The shortage was initially registered during the peak of the first wave, pushing the medical oxygen demand to 3,095 MT on September 29, 2020, while during the second wave in 2021, the demand rocketed due to the delta variant, resulting in widening gap between demand and availability.

The demand for oxygen jumped to an average of 5,500 MT a day by the third week of April 2021, which further shot up to 7,100 MT in the fourth week of April 2021, and 8,943 MT in early May 2021, the report observed.

The report also pointed out several weaknesses, which included low inherent medical oxygen production capacity in comparison with an increase in the number of dedicated beds for COVID patients. The significant urban rural divide in terms of available health facilities and geographical disparity in the production and requirements.

To overcome the unmet need for oxygen, the government had to face several daunting challenges such as few dedicated units producing medical oxygen and limited expertise in oxygen manufacturing and supply.

The medical colleges and district hospitals had limited capacity and were ill-equipped to monitor oxygen supply during critical times. To make matters worse, the government also faced the problem of black marketing due to the demand-supply gap and public panic and fear mongering.

Despite these challenges, the country managed to mitigate the shortage within a short period through restructuring of in house production, market, and supply chain. Though health is a state subject, the central government provided technical, logistic, and financial support to strengthen the existing health infrastructure, the report mentioned.

“This pandemic offers the opportunity to refocus efforts on the basics of acute care and improvements in logistics, including liquid medical oxygen (LMO), till the last mile. The experiences can guide similar surges in demand that will help markedly decrease preventable deaths as an achievable priority for hospitals in low-middle income countries (LMICs),” the report added.

“Leveraging benefits in this aspect will enhance care for other vulnerable groups of patients with severe pneumonia, newborns, and children. This will help build more equitable, resilient, and sustainable health systems,” concluded the report compiled by AIIMS.