551 oxygen generation plants to be set up through PM Cares Fund

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, April 25 (EMN): As many as 551 dedicated pressure swing adsorption (PSA) medical oxygen generation plants has been approved ‘in-principle’ to be set up inside public health facilities across the country to boost availability of oxygen amid its shortage in several states battling the Covid-19 surge.

The prime minister’s office (PMO) in an update on Sunday said that the PM Cares Fund had approved allocation of funds for their installation, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi directing these plants be made functional as soon as possible.

He said these plants would serve as a major boost to oxygen availability at the district level.

It said that these dedicated plants would be established at identified government hospitals in district headquarters in various states and union territories, and their procurement would be done through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The PM Cares Fund had earlier this year allocated INR 201.58 crores for installation of additional 162 dedicated PSA medical oxygen generation plants inside public health facilities in the country, the PMO noted.

It said that the basic aim behind establishing PSA oxygen plants at government hospitals in the district headquarters was to further strengthen the public health system and ensure that each of these hospitals had a captive oxygen generation facility.

“Such an in-house captive oxygen generation facility would address the day-to-day medical oxygen needs of these hospitals and the district. In addition, the liquid medical oxygen (LMO) would serve as a top up to the captive oxygen generation,” it said.

Such a system would go a long way in ensuring that government hospitals in districts do not face sudden disruption of oxygen supplies and have uninterrupted access to it to manage Covid-19 patients and other sick persons needing such support, it added.