The Indian ‘black oxygen’ market exploded amid the pandemic

The case crisis caused the prices of medical oxygen and medicines in India to soar on the black market. Along the way, many people even ventured into making oxygen according to online videos.
In India, the purchase of medical oxygen cylinders is becoming a matter of life and death, oxygen cylinders are seen as symbols of wealth, according to VICE.

With the record-high new Covid-19 cases, a nation of 1.3 billion people needs huge amounts of medical oxygen every day to cater to the treatment of its patients. This has caused a boom in the black market oxygen trade, where only the very rich can afford it, and families desperately looking for oxygen for loved ones with Covid-19 are susceptible to scams. “On the black market, an oxygen tank, which costs between $ 81 and $ 135 depending on size, is currently being pushed up to $ 812 to $ 1,354. This condition is an indirect cause of the death of patients who have no relationship or money, ”said Divyansh Pandey (25 years old) volunteer in the state of Uttar Pradesh, said. Medical oxygen in India has become an expensive commodity due to the soaring cases of Covid-19. Photo: Getty. The average price of a medical oxygen on the black market, about $ 1,080, is higher than the average monthly income of 1% of the country’s richest people. Conventional drugs, which cost $ 67, are now pushed up to $ 810. Pandey has helped dozens of Covid-19 patients find hospital beds, medical oxygen, oxygen generators and essential medicines. Pandey said he was forced to consider the supply from the black market after repeatedly failing to find and buy the items at the original prices. “The saddest thing is that the black market is openly open and hoarders casually sell it on social media. Non-governmental organizations and official sources often distribute these items for free or sell at original prices, but in small quantities and often out of stock quickly, sometimes within an hour. ” Crisis India currently records more than 20 million cases of SARS-CoV-2, more than 220,000 deaths. Experts say the reason for this dire number is the lack of beds and medicine. “When demand is too much and supply is insufficient, we are forced to sell imported oxygen generators for 10 times the price,” said an anonymous supplier at the Delhi black market. According to data submitted by the Indian government to the Supreme Court, the country has three times more medical oxygen than it needs in 12 states, with about 16,000 tons of liquid oxygen to meet the estimated demand of 4,880. tons last week. However, activists point out that the system only monitors hospital resources, not those needed by Covid-19 patients in home isolation. Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that oxygen production has increased 60% to address the crisis, volunteers and suppliers pointed out that problems such as transportation and logistics could hinder the arrival of oxygen cylinders. people’s hands. The price of medical oxygen in the black market has been pushed up many times because of the high demand. Photo: AFP. The lack of oxygen has even made many Indians recklessly experiment with making oxygen at home. At the end of April, many YouTubers posted videos showing people how to make oxygen using easy-to-find sources, available at home. Many of these are new high school students. “We created oxygen in the lab before using electrolysis and easy-to-find chemicals like potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide,” said Kirtharth Tiwari (16), whose video received more than 50,000 views. . Then, Tiwari also made the next video instructing people how to filter oxygen to use, avoiding the risk of an exothermic reaction by using a cold storage bag. “Two people reached out and said that following my instructions worked,” said Rahul Soni, another YouTuber with more than 300,000 video views. However, experts warn against doing such experiments at home because it can lead to dangerous explosions. YouTube has removed both videos for violation of community guidelines. Last week, the Delhi High Court ordered the state government to cut back to stop the proliferation of a “black oxygen” market. However, the situation is still developing complicatedly.