GURUGRAM: The city will set up a 1,000 litre per minute (LPM) pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plant at Civil Hospital in Sector 10. It plans to make it functional by August 10. This is one of the 40 PSA plants allocated to Haryana by the central government under the PM Cares Fund.
A 1,000 LPM plant usually costs about Rs 40 lakh to be set up and become operational. At present, the Sector Civil Hospital already has one in place. There are also two 500 LPM plants at Sohna and Pataudi government hospitals as well a 100 LPM plant at the Sector 31 polyclinic.
During the peak of the second wave of Covid, the city’s oxygen demand rose to 55 metric tonnes. Currently, it stands at less than 20 metric tonnes. Gurugram chief medical officer Virender Yadav said installation of PSA plants in healthcare facilities would help avoid disruption of oxygen supplies, reduce dependence on LMO (liquid medical oxygen) storage and supply of cylinders or tanks.
“We are making government set-ups self-sufficientwith respect to oxygen supply. We have also asked private hospitals having bed capacity of more than 50 to install PSA plants at the earliest. An oxygen bank that will have oxygen concentrators and D-type cylinders for home isolation will also be created,” the CMO said. Out of the 43 private hospitals treating Covid patients in the city, 16 have already set up oxygen plants.
Meanwhile, Gurugram is preparing for inspection by the three IAS officers appointed on Wednesday to take stock of oxygen plants in each district. To prepare for a potential third wave, the state government has also directed districts to ramp up testing.
