They are short in number that led to a gap between demand and supply of LMO in several States during Covid.
VIJAYAWADA: Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), which has been bridging the gap between demand and supply of medical oxygen in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, has imported three cryogenic oxygen tanks from Singapore. The tanks, which are expected to reach Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday night or early Thursday, will be handed over to the State government free of cost. Each cryogenic tank with a capacity of 1.4 crore litres of medical oxygen (total 4.2 crore litres) will meet the present and future needs of the State.
A special defence flight from Singapore landed with the tanks at Panagarh Air Force Station in West Bengal at 6 PM on Tuesday and the tanks were moved to Durgapur Steel Plant, 35 km away, for filling them with oxygen. “After the filling, the three tanks will be transported via rail route, and they will reach AP by Wednesday night or Thursday morning,” said MEIL vice-president P Rajesh Reddy. MEIL has already imported 11 cryogenic tanks from Bangkok (Thailand) and handed over them to the Telangana government free of cost. Cryogenic tanks are critical in transportation of liquid medical oxygen. They are short in number that led to a gap between demand and supply of LMO in several States during Covid.
“With the cooperation from the Centre and the State government, MEIL is importing tanks ahead of schedule. The tanks will bring liquid medical oxygen from the oxygen production centres allotted to our State and deliver it directly to hospitals. At the same time, these tanks are also used to supply directly to hospitals depending on their needs,” MEIL added.It further noted that it is continuously producing oxygen at its Bollaram plant and supplying it for free to AP, Telangana and other States.On an average, MEIL has supplied nearly 400 oxygen cylinders with an average capacity of 7,000 litres per day to at least 17 hospitals. From May 9 to 31, it has supplied more than 56,000 MT of LMO. It has set up a special team to monitor supply of oxygen and the team is working round the clock,” the company said in a statement.