E-Paper
PM okays procurement of 150,000 units of DRDO’s Oxycare System
The system is aimed at optimising consumption of oxygen based on the SpO2 reading of the patient and thus, effectively increasing the utility of the oxygen cylinders
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the procurement of the 150,000 units of Oxycare System developed by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) at a cost of ₹322.5 crore. The system is aimed at optimising consumption of oxygen based on the SpO2 reading of the patient and thus, effectively increasing the utility of the oxygen cylinders.
The system comes in two variants: Manual, and automatic. As many as 100,000 manual and 50,000 automatic oxygen systems will be procured along with non-rebreather (NRB) masks. Non-rebreather masks are the face masks connected to a reservoir bag which allow a patient to inhale only pure oxygen. A patient using an NRB is unable to inhale anything he or she exhales. A non-rebreather mask typically delivers 70 to 100% oxygen and increases the consumption from a single cylinder by 30 to 40%.
DRDO said that this will lessen the workload of hospital staff by a large extent as it will eliminate the need of routine measurements and manual adjustments of oxygen flow. “The threshold SpO2 value for initiating flow from the system can be adjusted once and a display will then continuously keep monitoring the SpO2 levels of the patient” DRDO said.
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It added that the technology has been transferred to multiple industries in India which will be producing the systems which will be later paid for by the PM-CARES fund.
Also on April 28, PM Modi sanctioned the procurement of 100,000 portable oxygen concentrators. Chairing a high-level meeting, PM Modi instructed that these concentrators should be procured on war footing and provided to the states which have the highest case burden in the country.
On the same day, PM had also sanctioned 500 PSA (pressure swing absorption) oxygen plants from the PM cares fund which were in addition to 551 PSA plants for which the Prime Minister’s office had given an “in-principle approval” earlier on 25th April last month.
