NEW DELHI: Five billion people or nearly two-thirds of the world’s population lack access to medical oxygen, with highest inequities in low- and middle-income countries, said the latest Lancet Commission report.The report published in the Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security said that 82 per cent of patients worldwide requiring medical oxygen live in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).It also said that nearly 70 per cent of them concentrated in south and east Asia, the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa.The report is the world’s first estimate of how unequally medical oxygen is distributed, the gaps in coverage of patients in need, along with costs required to bridge these gaps.Medical oxygen is essential in a healthcare system for treating patients, including those of surgery, asthma, trauma and maternal and child care.It is also critical to a country’s pandemic preparedness by helping prevent a repeat of the COVID-19 oxygen shortages and the mass fatalities that resulted, said an international team of researchers, including those from the University of Melbourne, Australia.The patients include those with acute medical and surgical conditions, and long-term oxygen needs due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).However, less than one in three people needing oxygen for medical or surgical conditions receive oxygen due to gaps in service contact, readiness, provision and quality, leaving almost 70 per cent of the patients without coverage.The gaps are even higher in regions, including Sub-Saharan Africa (91 per cent) and South Asia (78 per cent), the authors said.
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