E-Paper
Number of oxygen plants in the district to increase from 15 to 54 by July end
PUNE As a preparatory measure for the anticipated third wave, the district administration will set up 54 oxygen plants in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), and rural Pune areas
PUNE As a preparatory measure for the anticipated third wave, the district administration will set up 54 oxygen plants in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), and rural Pune areas.
Out of 54, 15 have been already installed (see box), while 39 will be installed in the coming months. A total of 7,729 litres per minute (LPM) of oxygen is currently generated from the 15 existing plants. With the proposed 39 plants that figure will go up to 26, 243 LPM.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said, “All the district administrations in the state should be prepared for the anticipated third wave. Planning should be done to measure the required amount of health facilities, medicine, and oxygen storage. Every district should prepare to produce 3,000 metric tonnes of oxygen every day. The proposed oxygen plants should be completed by the end of July.”
“In the anticipated third wave, we cannot predict which state will have how many patients. So it is better to be self-dependent for oxygen. Whichever district is noticing a surge in patients, oxygen storage should be increased at such places. Administration should also focus on increasing oxygen assembled ambulances,” Thackeray added.
The decision was taken to increase oxygen storage after the second wave, where major hospitals in district suffered shortages of oxygen supply.
“The administration has taken the decision to increase the oxygen storage in the district to avoid situations like the second wave. Currently, the demand for oxygen has gone down. The decision to increase oxygen storage before the anticipated third wave is taken to strengthen the health infrastructure,” said Rajesh Deshmukh, Pune district collector.
Within the PMC limit the work of installing five oxygen plants is done, while eight more will be added in coming days.
“Quote of Rubal Agarwal after 8:30pm” said Rubal Agarwal, additional commissioner, PMC.
“Having enough storage is always beneficial. During the second wave we had to import oxygen from Raigad. Such a situation can be avoided if need arises in anticipated third wave,” said Suresh Patil, joint commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pune division.
In PCMC, the work of installing an oxygen plant in Bhosari is under process.
PCMC has approved the acquisition of a 465 square metre area for a new Bhosari hospital.
The PCMC will pay a total of ₹80,39,850 to the owner at the rate of Rs13,000 per square metre. The oxygen will be supplied to the new Bhosari hospital.
“The oxygen plants will come up at Jija mata hospital, new Bhosari hospital and new facilities at Thergaon and Akurdi,”said Vikas Dhakane, additional commissioner, PCMC.
Rural Pune will get 32 oxygen plants. Eight plants are ready.
