Covid-19: JSW Steel reduces production to ramp up supply of medical oxygen

Saving lives more important than producing steel, says Sajjan Jindal

Steel companies are looking at different ways to mitigate the oxygen crisis. From setting up Covid hospitals and centres close to their plants to overcome transportation bottlenecks for liquid oxygen, they are also ramping up output of oxygen even at the cost of cutting down on steel production. Primary steel producers are looking at solutions that can be achieved in the shortest possible time.
 
Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Steel has ramped up liquid oxygen supply further to 1,000 tonnes a day and total liquid medical oxygen (LMO) supplies during April 2021 are expected to be over 20,000 tonnes.
 
Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director, JSW, on Tuesday, said, “Saving lives is more important than producing steel. Production can suffer for as long as the country is in need of any resource available with the company.”
 
The company said, “JSW Steel is committed to augment the supply of liquid oxygen further in these critical times to save lives even by lowering the production of steel at its plants. We are leaving no stone unturned to push the supply of liquid oxygen in the interest of our nation.” 
 
On Sunday, JSW had said that supply of LMO was being augmented to 900 tonnes a day by the end of the month. But it has now been increased further. 
 
Major steel producers have been ramping up supply of LMO since the high-level meeting on Friday among Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and oxygen manufacturers along with heads of companies supplying LMO. Steel companies are also coming up with measures to reduce dependency on LMO and overcome bottlenecks in transportation by tankers. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) and JSW Steel are setting up Covid hospitals and centres that can reach gaseous oxygen to patients. Within 72 hours of the high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi, AM/NS India has come up with a 250-bed Covid hospital adjacent to its plant at Hazira in Gujarat.
 
Lakshmi Mittal, executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, who had joined virtually from Kazakhstan for the inauguration of the Covid hospital, thanked Gujarat government and CM Vijay Rupani for their support. “The PM last Friday had requ­ested suggestions for tackling the Covid situation and since AM/NS India produces oxygen in the Hazira facility, we decided to build this hospital near the facility to help those in need. This will overcome the bottleneck in oxygen supply,” he said.
 
The 250-bed hospital is just the first phase and will be ramped up to 1,000 beds. The dedicated 250-bed temporary Covid hospital near the AM/NS India Hazira plant will admit only patients who need oxygen; AM/NS India will ensure speedy transfer of patients via ambulances to nearby hospitals in case they require more intensive medical intervention.

MSD gives voluntary licence for Covid drug to five Indian firms

Sohini Das

Drug firm MSD has decided to enter into vol­u­ntary licensing agreements for investiga­tional oral antiviral drug candidate ‘molnu­piravir’, which is being studied for the treat­ment of Covid, with Indian drug firms Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Emcure Pharma, and Hetero Labs, its Indian arm has said.

Molnupiravir is an investigational oral antiviral agent, currently being studied in a phase 3 trial for the treatment of non-hos­pit­alised patients with confirmed COVID-19, MSD India said in a statement. 

MSD India is a wholly-owned arm of Merck Sharp & Doh­me and known as Merck & Co. in the US and Canada.