Raphael Koch, a retailer of medical devices in the small Swiss town of Wil, has been busy for the past two weeks fielding a flurry of phone calls. Most are from Indians or India-based companies looking for oxygen concentrators, with some even wanting as many as 500 at once.
But Koch¡¯s Oxymed store barely has any stock left of the little known machines that separate the critical gas from air and assist patients with low blood-oxygen levels. And he isn¡¯t expecting fresh supplies from manufacturers until at least mid-June.
¡°They¡¯re desperate,¡± he said, referring to the callers he¡¯s been speaking to lately. ¡°They tell me about relatives dying on the streets, that there¡¯s no space in the hospitals and that the few oxygen concentrators that are still available are being sold for up to 10 times the normal price.¡±
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