"We seek 100 percent now from the five oxygen producers to be set aside to address health problems," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan stated during a virtual press conference monitored from Jakarta on Monday.
"We make full industrial oxygen conversions to pharmaceutical oxygen. Our shortfall can be fulfilled later if all industrial oxygen focuses on pharmaceutical oxygen," he noted.
The surge in COVID-19 cases has spiked the demand for oxygen to support patient care.
"The distribution was a bit sluggish due to an increase in demand that was three to four folds the amount required," Pandjaitan stated.
The minister highlighted that medical oxygen was also provided in electronic catalog services or e-catalogs to make it easier for residents and managers of health facilities to access these products.
"You see that the e-catalog also offers oxygen. You can also buy it there if you want to for personal use at home," he remarked.
Pandjaitan stated that the government requires detailed data on the medical oxygen demand from each city and district to ensure medical oxygen needs are met.
On Sunday, he spoke of having coordinated with the Industry Ministry to record the demand for oxygen cylinders in every city across Indonesia.
The ministry informed that oxygen manufacturing industries were mandated to convert their products to meet medical requirements. Consequently, 1,700 tons of medical oxygen per day will be available.
Some 1,400 out of the 1,700 tons of medical oxygen are used to meet the demands in Java, according to Pandjaitan.
The COVID-19 pandemic initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019 and subsequently spread across the globe, including to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Indonesian government announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
Since then, the central and regional governments have striven incessantly to flatten the nation's coronavirus curve by applying healthcare protocols and public activity restrictions.
As part of the efforts to win the fight against COVID-19, the Indonesian government has also been conducting a nationwide vaccination program to contain infections since January 13, 2021.
In the midst of the government's ongoing vaccination drives, over the past few weeks, Indonesia has been hit by the second wave of new COVID-19 cases.
The country witnessed a record increase in daily COVID-19 cases on July 3, with 27,913 new infections reported across the country, thereby taking the total tally to 2,256,851.
The COVID-19 Response Task Force noted that with 493 people dying of COVID-19, the death toll had reached 60,027. The number of deaths showed a decline on Saturday as compared to 539 recorded on July 2.
Translator: Andi F, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
