Access to medical oxygen can save more children's lives: Experts

Ensuring access to medical oxygen can save more lives of children suffering from pneumonia-induced hypoxemia – a condition of below-normal oxygen level in the blood, health experts have said.

"Hypoxemia in children with pneumonia leads to death if they do not receive adequate amounts of oxygen on time. Only prompt administration of oxygen can reduce mortality," said Dr Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, associate scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research Bangladesh, widely known as icddr,b.

"If the government wants to achieve sustainable development goals for child health, it should work for better pneumonia treatment. All hospitals should have facilities for identifying the disease and adequate oxygen for quick administration," he added while addressing a discussion at the icddr,b premises in the capital on Wednesday.

The medical scientist urged the government to increase budgetary allocation for medical oxygen and called for an effective action plan for making oxygen available at every hospital.

Speakers at the event, titled "Medical oxygen security: Way to ensure right to breath" that the icddr,b and the Data for Impact jointly organised ahead of World Pneumonia Day, also said pneumonia is one of the leading causes of child mortality in Bangladesh. On average, 8 out of every 1000 children die of pneumonia within five years of birth. And, a major cause of death from pneumonia is hypoxemia.

In Bangladesh, about 42% of the children who visit the secondary hospital with pneumonia suffer from hypoxemia, they said, adding that pneumonia treatment and increased investment in hospital oxygen should be the government's priorities to reduce child mortality.

They further added that people suffering from hypoxemia – also can appear with malaria, sepsis, tuberculosis, chronic obstruction, pulmonary disease, heart disease, asthma and so on – require oxygen as a medical therapy, but most hospitals lack oxygen, unfortunately.

According to the Bangladesh Health Facility Survey 2017, less than one-fourth of health facilities have any of the three oxygen systems – compressed gas systems, portable oxygen concentrators or liquid oxygen systems. Oxygen concentrators were available in 13% facilities, while only 21% of hospitals had filled oxygen cylinders with flow metres. Only 6% of facilities had oxygen distribution systems and pulse oximeters.

The government has taken several isolated initiatives to tackle the surge in demand for oxygen during the peak hours of Covid-19, but the initiatives are not enough at all, speakers said.

Investments should be increased to ensure oxygen security. Besides, systematic distribution of the life-saving tool is also crucial, they concluded.

The session ended with an announcement that recently the Lancet Global Health has found a new commission with the aim to address major gaps in oxygen research, promote best practices, and accelerate the impact towards strong oxygen systems and reduced mortality and morbidity globally. Bangladesh is one of the co-chairs of this commission.

It is expected that this commission will shed light on the burden of hypoxemia, how to define and measure oxygen access, which oxygen solutions work best in different settings, and how to generate the financing and political will to achieve transformational change.