2 Oxygen plants in Faridabad govt hospitals start operations

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, May 7

Oxygen plants in two government hospitals have been made operational. Though these are expected to produce around 640 litres of gas per minute, private hospitals and patients recovering in home isolation are still dependent on outside sources of supply which is well short of the demand.

While the first oxygen plant of the Civil Hospital here became operational last night, the ESIC hospital’s first oxygen plant started producing gas today, said officials.

The production capacity of the Civil Hospital’s plant is 200 litres per minute and it will be able to supply piped gas to at least 20 beds round the clock though the total bed capacity for Covid patients here is 100.

“We need around 1,000 litres more per minute if all the 100 beds are occupied,” said a senior doctor in the Civil Hospital. The oxygen supply at present is made through the D-type of cylinders whose filled-up capacity is 7,000 litres per cylinder.

The ESIC medical college and hospital here is another facility where an oxygen plant has been made ready. “The plant — with production capacity of 440 litres per minute — became operational today,” said DC Yashpal Yadav.

Claiming that ESIC was the largest Covid hospital in the district, he said in-house production and availability would enable the doctors to save many lives. He said the third such plant which is expected to start production within the next few weeks is located at the Atal Behari Vajpayee Medical College at Chhainsa village in the district where a 100-bed Covid hospital has been set up. This plant, he said, would produce around 1,000 litres of gas daily.

While a comprehensive data of the demand and supply is yet to be made public, the demand in the district, according to sources, could be somewhere between 80 and 90 metric tonnes as all the private hospitals and home-isolated patients are dependent on outside sources of supply. “We have asked all the private hospitals to set up oxygen plants to tide over the crisis,” said the DC.

Civil hospital plant to supply Oxygen to 20 beds

• While the first oxygen plant of the Civil Hospital here became operational on Thursday night, the ESIC hospital’s first oxygen plant started producing gas on Friday, said officials.
• The production capacity of the Civil Hospital’s plant is 200 litres per minute and it will be able to supply piped gas to at least 20 beds round the clock though the total bed capacity for Covid patients here is 100.