Which Country launched ‘National Oxygen Stewardship Programme’ to prevent…

Government health-sector 'stewardship' programmes train a dedicated cadre of personnel to monitor, audit, and rationally utilise a critical resource during a public-health emergency, so that supply gaps and wastage are prevented in future surges.

India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the National Oxygen Stewardship Programme in December 2021, inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar at AIIMS, New Delhi. The programme trains at least one 'Oxygen Steward' in every district to lead training on oxygen therapy, audit oxygen delivery systems, and prepare for surge scenarios — a direct response to the medical-oxygen shortage India faced during the COVID-19 second wave. A supporting dashboard, OxyCare, was also set up to track oxygen stock.

Why not the other countries:

• China's pandemic-era measures focused on expanding industrial oxygen-production capacity and hospital ICU beds, not on a district-level 'Oxygen Steward' training cadre under this name.

• Japan's COVID-19 response emphasised its existing high-standard hospital infrastructure and equipment quality control, not a newly launched national oxygen-stewardship training scheme.

• New Zealand's pandemic strategy centred on strict border controls and an elimination approach, so it never needed — or launched — a large-scale medical-oxygen stewardship and auditing programme.

The programme's naming, ownership by India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and district-level 'Oxygen Steward' structure are confirmed by the ministry's own press release (PIB) and independent news coverage of the AIIMS inauguration.