If politicians were trying to stir controversy, they succeeded. There’s no point cleaning the mirror when the dirt is on the face. But that doesn’t answer the basic question: Are we prepared? To answer that, we must know the dynamics of factory-produced oxygen. Liquefied medical oxygen (LMO) is a byproduct of the gas produced and used in industries, mostly steel. Only 10 per cent of the gas is used for medical purposes, the rest is for industrial use. Companies like Linde, INOX and Air Liquid have plants that suck oxygen from the atmosphere, compress it into its liquid form and supply it to industries, especially steel plants. Oxygen production is not uniform across the country. Only 13 per cent is produced in north India and 22 per cent in the southern states; the east and west account for 65 per cent of the total production because the majority of industries that use oxygen are located in these belts. “The current capacity of Odisha is three times that of oxygen consumed during the peak first wave of Covid-19,” says Dr Bibhudatta Mishra, paediatric intensivist, Jagannath Hospital, Bhubaneswar. The immediate need during the second wave was not to crank up production, but to divert oxygen supply from industries to hospitals. That involves a logistic challenge—like shipping LMO in tankers from oxygen-rich areas to deficient states. Highlighting the demand-supply mismatch during the second wave, a government statement informed: “One-third of the production is concentrated in east India, while 60 per cent of the demand for oxygen is in north and south India, resulting in transportation challenges.” To avert a crisis similar to the disaster in April-May in case of a third wave, health experts suggest diverting all oxygen for medical use for the time being and strengthening the supply chain to make it seamless. It is highly likely that oxygen could be at the centrepiece of our fight against Covid if another outbreak hits us.