33 oxygen plants set up, nine in northern region

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 18

With Covid cases rising at an alarming rate of 11 per cent daily, the Centre on Sunday stepped in to address medical oxygen shortage saying 33 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants to produce oxygen had been installed. Four of these plants are in Himachal Pradesh, three in Chandigarh and one each in Punjab and Haryana.

The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the availability of life-saving medical equipment and drugs for Covid-19.

“As many as 162 PSA oxygen plants have been sanctioned for installation in public health facilities in all states. These will augment medical oxygen capacity by 154.19 metric tonne. Of the 162 PSA plants, 33 have already been installed.

How these work

The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants allow separation of gases from the atmosphere to generate concentrated oxygen that can then be supplied directly to hospital beds via pipelines