OxygenForIndia (OFI), a volunteer-run campaign to deliver medical oxygen in response to the COVID-19 second wave in India, has welcomed on board Dr Indu Bhushan, the founding CEO of Ayushman Bharat. Dr Bhushan will co-lead the effort to form a national oxygen grid. The initiative aims to solve the problem of oxygen shortages across India to ensure that no one ever dies due to a lack of medical oxygen in the country. 

Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, Founder and Director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) in Washington DC and New Delhi and a senior research scholar at Princeton University, founded OFI for large-scale deployment of a volunteer-driven logistics network to supply medical oxygen. The national oxygen grid will be set up in the peri-urban and rural healthcare facilities which are either charitable or privately operated. 

Speaking about this, Dr Laxminarayan said, “The acute need for oxygen predates COVID-19, and shortages are a constant problem, particularly in rural India. Pregnant women and children with pneumonia can die without supplemental oxygen. Medical oxygen is among the most essential and best understood medical interventions. We are delighted to have Dr Indu Bhushan on board with us in this initiative.”

Dr Indu Bhushan, Ex CEO, Ayushman Bharat said, “An ideal oxygen grid for the country would work much like an electricity grid, with central generation (LMO), transmission (tankers and cylinders), storage (liquid and gaseous), and decentralised production (PSA generators and oxygen concentrators). A sustainable oxygen grid — one that supplies medical oxygen when and where it is required — needs both centralised and decentralized production, plus reliable transmission, and storage."