Oxygen Crisis: PM CARES Fund To Aid Installation Of 551 O2 Generation Plants

Delhi: To boost the availability of oxygen in hospitals, the PM CARES Fund has been given in-principle approval to allocate funds for the installation of 551 dedicated Pressure Swing Adsorption Medical Oxygen Generation Plants inside public health facilities.

The Prime Minister's Officer (PMO) released a statement in this regard to inform about the steps being taken to augment the critical Oxygen supply.

PM Modi has directed that these 551 PSA Oxygen Generation Plants be made functional as soon as possible. These dedicated plants will be established in identified government hospitals in district headquarters in various States/Union Territories.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will oversee the procurement, PMO informed.

The statement goes on to elaborate that the basic aim behind establishing these PSA Oxygen Generation Plants at Government hospitals in the district headquarters is to further strengthen the public health system and ensure that each of these hospitals has a captive oxygen generation facility.

The in-house captive oxygen generation facility would help resolve the day-to-day medical oxygen needs of these hospitals and the districts. In addition, the liquid medical oxygen (LMO) would serve as a “top-up” to the captive oxygen generation, PMO states.

The union government expects that the system will in long term ensure that Government hospitals in the districts do not face sudden disruption of oxygen supplies and have access to adequate uninterrupted medical oxygen for treating the Covid-19 patients and other patients needing such support.

Recently, the shortage in medical oxygen has posed a difficult challenge in India's battle against the Coronavirus crisis with patients dying due to the lack of critical supply. Hospitals in the national capital have had to approach the Delhi High Court to have their woes addressed.