Oxygen demand grows due to increase in Covid cases

Santo Domingo, DR

Juan (not his real name) is an oxygen sales company administrator with two branches in Santo Domingo. He commented to Listín Diario that he is currently living with his suppliers as there is a resurgence of Covid in this province.

Although he does not supply oxygen to the hospitals, he knows that the demand has risen because those who provide them commented a few days ago that he should administer the oxygen he has because it is running out due to the demands of the medical centers. Juan is now only offering services to regular customers who need it and are at home due to other conditions unrelated to the coronavirus.

“The suppliers are almost out of oxygen and they are asking us to control the clients because there is a very high demand. For private use everything remains normal, but when it comes to hospitals, things are changing rapidly,” explained via telephone the man consulted by Listín Diario.

To confirm the information, the media called one of the leading suppliers of oxygen to medical centers in the country. One of its employees commented that as there is a resurgence, the oxygen usage has shot up, and so has the shortage.

The call seemed to be to purchase oxygen for a hospital, and the response of this employee was, “we are only offering service to the medical centers with which we currently have a contract, for the time being.”

She also indicated that they rent oxygen tanks (with a refundable deposit of RD$10,000) which are also no longer available.

The oxygen tanks in hospitals and clinics in the country cost RD$966.3 to fill. Before Covid, they mainly were replenished every day, as confirmed by Listín a few months ago in the publication “Oxygen reaches prices of up to RD$58,000 per cylinder.”

For those who have a sick person at home who needs oxygen, a tank can cost RD$10,585, RD$19,000, RD$31,000, and up to RD$58,000.

Currently, the filling of these tanks varies from RD$300 to RD$770.

According to the National Health Service, this entity does not process the purchase of oxygen for the centers of the Public Network.

“Within our responsibility is to provide oxygen to the ambulance units of the 911 Emergency System, in that sense since that component passed to the SNS, we have carried out a contracting process for the supply of oxygen tank refilling in October 2020 and in the process of carrying out a new contracting, in view of the fact that the previous contract expires next June,” explains a statement from the entity sent to this media.