In the Dominican Republic, the demand for oxygen has increased in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic and even more so in cases of complications of the disease, but oxygen tanks, a rare business in the country, are sold not only to hospitals or by Covid – 19.
Some families have to buy oxygen tanks because of other end-stage diseases, such as cancer, so there are new and used tanks. However, on the internet there are very few companies that offer this service, only around 15, most located in the national district and Santo Domingo Este.
A large 6,200-liter oxygen tank, when used, costs about $ 25,000, and they also come with a regulator and sell completely, according to a survey by Listín Diario. A new oxygen tank, with all its accessories, costs about US $ 58,000; and they are the ones that hospitals buy in most cases, albeit to a lesser extent.
One of the employees of the company dedicated to the sale of oxygen, commented that the health centers have the cylinders installed there and daily filling this tank can cost between $ 900 and $ 1,400, depending on the company that supplies it. and cubic feet.
“There are patients who are at home, who are already delivered to doctors because their disease has no solution and can consume up to one cylinder every 24 hours. So the family has to complete it every day “, says another employee of one of these companies. Here, an empty and used oxygen tank costs US $ 15,000.
For both employees in the sales departments of these businesses, the supply of oxygen to hospitals and clinics is “cheap” because they are up to $ 1,400 RD for a day depending on the tanks they have, which is useful for many patients, although he points out: “the bad thing is that there are hospitals that need years of payment. I’m a bad payer. ” However, for a family that needs to fill the tank at least 15 times a month because it has a patient in a delicate condition, the investment would be about $ 13,500.
“In the first months of Covid-19, demand increased a lot, but it’s almost normal,” said the seller of a company dedicated to the sale of medicinal oxygen, which pointed out that most medical centers have large tanks, which are called thermal. The seller adds that the tanks in the medical centers are seven to eight feet long and five to seven feet wide, and in these tanks the oxygen passes through a pipe.
CURFEW
State of emergency.
President Luis Abinader has asked the National Congress to extend the state of emergency by another 45 days, starting with March 2.
The presidential petition was sent to the Chamber of Deputies, which immediately began to hear it.
No commission
The first thing MEPs did was to vote to avoid sending the petition to a committee for study. He immediately followed the reading of the resolution that the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies had already prepared.
PLD critical
Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) spokesman Gustavo Sánchez complained about the improvisation he claims the Luis Abinader government has led on the issue of the new coronavirus pandemic.