Oxygen Shortage In India's Covid Crisis Sparks Hunt for $1,000 Machines

But Raphael Koch's Oxymed store barely has any stock left of the little known machines that separate the critical gas from air and assist patients with low blood-oxygen levels. And he isn't expecting fresh supplies from manufacturers at least until mid-June.

Raphael Koch, a retailer of medical devices in the small Swiss town of Wil, has been busy for the past two weeks fielding a flurry of phone calls. Most are from Indians or India-based companies looking for oxygen concentrators, with some even wanting as many as 500 at once. @Delhicustoms I have shipped an oxygen concentrator for my father. It has been stuck in IGIA customs for 5 days. Do you not realize that people have an urgent need for these devices? But Mr Koch's Oxymed store barely has any stock left of the little known machines that separate the critical gas from air and assist patients with low blood-oxygen levels. And he isn't expecting fresh supplies from manufacturers at least until mid-June. "They're desperate," he said, referring to the callers he's been speaking to lately. "They tell me about relatives dying on the streets, that there's no space in the hospitals and that the few oxygen concentrators that are still available are being sold for up to 10 times the normal price." After a new coronavirus variant unleashed a brutal wave of infections in India, taking thousands of lives and sending millions to overcrowded and poorly equipped hospitals, demand has shot up for the device. When health-care facilities are running short of oxygen tanks and beds, the portable machine is increasingly becoming a line of defense for those seeking to avert breathing difficulties while recuperating at home.