Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Limited has said that it was producing 1,000 MT of medical grade oxygen every day to cater to the need of hosptials around the country amidst the raging pandemic that has left tens of thousands of people dead.
In a statement, the RIL said, “A critical need of the hour is assured availability of medical grade liquid oxygen for treatment of severely ill patients across the country. Traditionally, Reliance is not a manufacturer of medical grade liquid oxygen. Yet, starting from Nil before the pandemic, Reliance Industries has now become India’s largest producer of this life-saving resource from a single location. At its refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Jamnagar and other
facilities, RIL now produces over 1000 MT of medical grade liquid oxygen per day — or over 11% of India’s total production – meeting the needs of nearly every one in ten patients.”
The RIL said that oxygen produced by it was being provided free-of-cost to several state governments across the country to bring immediate relief to over one lakh patients on a daily basis. Mukesh Ambani said, “For me and for all of us at Reliance, nothing is more important than saving every life as India battles against a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an immediate need to maximise India’s production and transportation capacities for medical grade oxygen. I am proud of our engineers at Jamnagar who have worked tirelessly, with a great sense of patriotic urgency, to meet this new challenge. I am truly humbled by the determination and sense of purpose shown by the bright, young members of the Reliance family who have once again risen to the occasion and delivered when India needs it the most.”
His wife and Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani said, “Our country is going through an unprecedented crisis. We at Reliance Foundation will continue to do everything we can to help. Every life is precious. Our plants at our Jamnagar refinery have been repurposed overnight to produce medical grade liquid oxygen that is being distributed across India. Our thoughts and prayers are with our fellow countrymen and women. Together, we will overcome these difficult times.”
The RIL said that it it had organised the airlifting of 24 ISO containers into India from Saudi Arabia, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Thailand adding 500 MT of new transportation capacity for liquid Oxygen. These ISO containers, it added, will help in removing the transport constraints for medical grade liquid Oxygen in the country.
