As India faces acute shortage of medical oxygen in hospitals, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued an order on Friday, exempting oxygen concentrators meant for personal use from customs clearance. Oxygen cylinders and concentrators are in high demand across the country, as patients who face difficult in breathing are highly dependent on the external support. Owing to this, as per the latest order, your friends and family staying abroad can send you an oxygen concentrator as a gift without customs clearance.
The exemption of oxygen concentrators from customs clearance is only temporary. The machines can be imported for personal use sans customs clearance only till July 31, 2021. Earlier, the oxygen concentrators were not part of the list, but have been added due to its high demand in the country, which has already spiked the price of rentals in some states by up to 5 times.
"Import of goods, including those purchased from e-commerce portals, through post or courier, where customs clearance is sought as gifts, is prohibited except for life saving drugs/ medicines/ oxygen concentrators and rakhi (but not gifts related to rakhi)," the notification said.
What is oxygen concentrator?
Oxygen concentrator machines provide oxygen therapy to patients who have difficulty breathing. Unlike oxygen cylinders, which have limited amount of oxygen, the concentrators works by concentrating oxygen from ambient air. Depending on patient's oxygen saturation levels in the body, doctors recommend oxygen therapy, which is when oxygen concentrators can be given at home settings as well.
Our atmosphere has 78 percent nitrogen, 28 percent oxygen and 1 percent other gases. The concentrator collects the ambient air, filters out the nitrogen and supplies oxygen to the patient. The machine can hold 90 to 90 percent pure oxygen, and it can be used for mild to moderate cases. In ICUs, patients are given liquid medical oxygen (LMO).
