Dr. Devi Shetty, whose views have been sought by the media since the pandemic began last year, has lauded the Government of India for handling the oxygen crisis well. In an interview, the reputed founder of a private hospital said that the Centre has moved heaven and earth like no other government in the world to handle the crisis.

In the interview, Dr. Shetty said that the astronomical number of cases would have been unmanageable even for US government, forget India. "These are astronomical numbers that no country in the world has the infrastructure to manage," he said.

In another interview, Siddharth Jain of INOX Air Products, the largest producer of liquid oxygen in the country, said that India has increased its oxygen manufacturing capacity by 30% within a month. "This is unfathomable. I don’t think it has happened globally. It’s a world record in itself," he said.

Why is there oxygen shortage in parts of India?

Experts are of the view that the shortage is because North Indian States like Uttar Pradesh and Delhi don't have production centres, which are concentrated in Eastern and Central India. As a result, supply logistics had to be planned by the States pro-actively. But States like Delhi failed in their duty. The Centre, on the other hand, was prompt in alerting manufactuers to ramp up production.