In recent weeks, the crisis generated by the coronavirus has highlighted the obstacles faced by families of patients, and beyond looking for hospitals, they also suffer the Stations of the Cross to get oxygen.
The head of the Federal Consumer Prosecutor’s Office (Profeco), Ricardo Sheffield, reported this Monday that only three companies – Infra, Medigas and Criogas – are the only ones in charge of the commercialization of medicinal oxygen and reiterated his call to the population to donate the tanks of oxygen to be used for Covid-19 patients.
The exhortation comes after weeks in which long lines have been observed in some parts of the country in specialized stores selling oxygen supply, in addition to the thousands of advertisements through social networks to try to get it.
The owner of Profeco has reported the elimination of 1,200 Facebook profiles and 130 Internet pages related to alleged fraud to the population seeking medical oxygen.
It should be noted that this weekend, the lack of medical oxygen was noticed to a lesser extent than in previous days, since the long lines disappeared outside some tank filling centers, although the influx was constant.
It is estimated that the expenses generated by the use of a 9.5 cubic meter oxygen tank, which can last about three days for a coronavirus patient, reach up to 5,600 pesos (a deposit of about 4,000 pesos, plus a monthly rent 600 and recharges ranging from 800 to 1,000 pesos).
Fernando, a young dispatcher from the Infra Tacuba branch, explains that, per day, this branch has the capacity to fill up to 20 cylinders of the largest and about 50 laptops, while acknowledging that in recent days the demand and supply they were overwhelmed.
Although the authorities indicate that only three companies can market medicinal oxygen, there are small businesses that have been very useful for families of patients with coronavirus, such is the case of Oximart Oxygen Medicinal, located in the Miguel Hidalgo mayor’s office. There, Raúl, from Nuevo León, talks about his daily Stations of the Cross to get supplies for his 71-year-old mother, who despite having no coronavirus has been on oxygen for more than a month.
Raúl relates that, in the face of the emergency, he had to buy two six-liter portable oxygen cylinders, each at a cost of 6,000 pesos, plus 198 pesos to fill it, considerable expenses since each one can last only three hours. In addition to leaving very early to look for a different filling center every day.
It is estimated that 102,401 oxygen cylinders per day are needed in Mexico for patients who are struggling to breathe, many of them due to the coronavirus. According to the Covid-19 oxygen needs tracker of the international organization Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), until this Monday, worldwide, those low and middle-income countries needed a million 635,380 cubic meters per day, while Mexico it required 716,807 cubic meters of oxygen, also per day.
PATH explains that studies have shown that approximately 41% of confirmed Covid patients – and in severe cases, more than 60% – received oxygen therapy to help them breathe. However, in many health facilities in low- and middle-income countries, oxygen therapy, including diagnostic, generation, and administration kits, are not reliably available.
The CNDH exhorted yesterday, February 1, to Profeco to take the necessary actions to prevent and prevent companies that produce and sell medicinal oxygen from engaging in practices that favor the shortage and increase in price of said product.
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