Mumbai, May 4 (IANS): Aiming to tackle the shortages of medical oxygen, the automobiles giant Mahindra Group has rolled out a free initiative, 'Oxygen on Wheels' to supply oxygen to hospitals and other treatment centres, an official said here on Tuesday.

The company has deployed over 100 jeeps in the worst-hit Covid hotspots like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur and in partnership with the local civic administration supplying oxygen cylinders 'on demand'.

Besides, the Mumbai headquartered Group is in talks to offer a similar service in other major cities, including Delhi and exploring options to directly ferry cylinders to homes of patients.

The O2W and the fleet of vehicles along with an integrated command and control centre, is coordinated by a group company, Mahindra Logistics.

It offers a seamless and endless chain of supply of the lifesaving oxygen and sent it to hospitals or other medical centres safely and reliably as per demands, said Mahindra Group Managing Director and CEO Anish Shah.

"We are committed to deploying our resources and capabilities innovatively to address the challenge in hand. O2W meets an urgent need by partnering with local authorities to help save precious lives and reduce pressure on the healthcare services," said Shah.

Besides, he said the Mahindra Group is helping the Covid fight through funds, providing ICU beds, emergency cab services, quarantine centres, monetary support of dry rations for the underprivileged, tweaking its production lines to produce PPE kits, face-shields and masks, aerosol boxes, helping the government set up oxygen plants and isolation centres, even as the company's plants and suppliers have diverted all their oxygen supplies for medical purposes.