Sri Lanka has enough Oxygen in hand, says Health Ministry

Despite the dependency on oxygen over COVID-19 patients has fairly gone up, there is no shortage of Oxygen required to provide treatment for COVID patients in the country, the Health Ministry said.

Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath dismissed reports that there is an imminent danger of a dearth of Oxygen in the country.

“The health system is equipped with adequate stocks of Oxygen plus we also have potential to provide the necessary Oxygen to every hospital where Oxygen has become urgent,” he underlined.
  
“It was reported to us that the dependency on oxygen over COVID-19 patients has slightly increased in several hospitals. However, right now we are prepared to provide Oxygen for the existing patients,” he said.
  
 Dr. Herath proceeded to say that they also had the potential to have more Oxygen if needed.

Thus, he asked people not to get panicked about the dearth of Oxygen, as they were equipped with adequate number of Oxygen cylinders.  
  
Meanwhile, the Deputy DG said they had noticed that people were not behaving with responsibility in terms of adhering to health guidelines and practices.

“We urge people not to take this situation for granted, as it would take only a few days for the things to go from bad to worse,” he added. (Sheain Fernandopulle)