District to get 25 oxygen plants in June
   Date :12-May-2021

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By Dheeraj Fartode :
 
CONSIDERING the high requirement of medical oxygen during the latest wave of Novel Coronavirus, a total of 25 medical oxygen generation plants will be installed in Nagpur city and district in June. Of these, four plants are cryogenic oxygen plants which create molecular oxygen at relatively high purity. The oxygen plant network is expected to increase availability of oxygen-supported beds in the urban and rural areas for COVID-19 patients. Chief Executive Officer Yogesh Kumbhejkar of Zilla Parishad Nagpur informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the administration was trying to install the plants at the earliest so that there would be no shortage of oxygen beds for COVID-19 patients. Six plants will be installed in Nagpur city and remaining will be in the government hospitals at tehsil levels.
 
Two oxygen plants each will be installed at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H), Mayo Hospital and AIIMS while one each will be installed in government hospitals at Kalmeshwar, Narkhed, Katol, Parseoni, Ramtek, Mouda, Kamptee, Umred, Bhivapur, Kuhi, Saoner, Patansaongi, Deolapar, Kondhali and Regional Mental Hospital. Additionally, four cryogenic oxygen general plants will also be set up at Umred, Katol, Ramtek and Saoner. District Civil Surgeon Dr Devendra Paturkar said that tenders for the plants were being floated and confirmation would be given after technical verification. Each plant will cost Rs 60 to 70 lakh, he said.
 
The tehsil-level plants would generate 600 litres per minute (LPM) medical oxygen which is enough for 50 patients at a time, Dr Paturkar said. As per figures available, daily oxygen requirement of Nagpur district in February was 19 to 20 MT. It surged to 160 MT per day during the outbreak of the virus. The oxygen plant network will work as life-saver for COVID-19 patients as the number of oxygen-supported beds will significantly increase. GMC&H, Mayo Hospital and AIIMS are dependent on the liquid oxygen being transported from the various industrial plants. After installation of the plants, the hospitals would become self-reliant as far as oxygen requirement is concerned. Similarly, availability of oxygen-supported beds at tehsil level will also boost health infrastructure as the people living in rural areas will not be required to travel upto Nagpur to get a bed for ailing patients.
 
COVID-19 patients with respiratory tract infection or pneumonia required oxygen support. After the massive outbreak of COVID-19 in March and April, many patients died in the city and district due to unavailability of beds. Many Nagpur patients were also admitted in Amravati, Wardha, Chandrapur due to unavailability of oxygen beds. Recently, District Ravindra Thakre had informed that around 43 private hospitals with capacity of 1,024 beds were waiting for approval as Dedicated COVID Hospitals (DCH) due to neck to neck supply of liquid oxygen in the district.