Work on oxygen plants may stretch to mid-August in Ghaziabad

The work on 10 oxygen generation plants to meet the medical requirement of the district may extend to the mid-August, the officials of the Ghaziabad district administration said on Tuesday

The work on 10 oxygen generation plants to meet the medical requirement of the district may extend to the mid-August, the officials of the Ghaziabad district administration said on Tuesday. The plants are proposed to be set up with the help of local area development funds of legislators and also from the funds of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

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The officials after a review meeting said the oxygen plant at ESIC Hospital and the one at Sanjay Nagar Combined District Hospital will be ready by June 30, while the plant at MMG District Hospital is likely to be ready by July 7.

Earlier, officials of the health department had said all plants were likely to be ready by June 30.

“We have asked the respective agencies to expedite the construction/installation work. Two plants will be ready before June 30 while five will be ready in July. The work on the remaining three is likely to get over by mid-August. Since most of the plants are being set up using CSR funds, vendors have started the work, but face difficulties as they have several such orders coming in,” said RK Singh, district magistrate.

The 10 plants are proposed at ESCI Hospital at Sahibabad , Combined District Hospital in Sanjay Nagar, District Women’s Hospital, one each at four community health centres of Loni, Muradnagar, Modinagar and Dasna, one at the primary health centre in Bhojpur and two at the MMG district hospital.

The decision to set up new oxygen plants was taken after the city faced an oxygen crisis during the second wave of Covid-19 from mid-April to mid-May. Families of Covid and non-Covid patients had a tough time arranging oxygen cylinders and oxygen beds for their kin in hospitals.

“Most of the plants are of a capacity of over 200 litres per minute. The orders that were placed before May 29 are as is -- they have a capacity of 150-200 litres per minute. The plants proposed after May 29 are of 300 litres per minute capacity. The new plants will boost our medical oxygen capacity,” Singh said.

On May 29, the state officials sent a communication to all district magistrates and divisional commissioners directing that the quality of plants be maintained. The communication further added that if purchase orders for plants were sanctioned, they should be fitted with equipment of 150 lites per minute, or more, capacity.

The health department officials said one oxygen bed requires about 10 lites per minute of oxygen while one bed (with ventilator) requires about 24 litres per minute of oxygen supply.

“With 10 new plants, we will be able to fully oxygenate 364 beds in government facilities at MMG district hospital, ESIC Hospital, Sanjay Nagar combined district hospital and the women’s hospital. The new oxygen plants will be of great help in case a third wave hits the country,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer.

The Ghaziabad district at present has 3,410 beds for Covid-19 patients, which include 2,674 oxygen beds in 50 private and eight government hospitals. The overall bed availability also includes 769 ICU beds and 229 ventilator beds.