Oxygen plant at HIMS will be ready soon

The oxygen generation plant, set up utilising PM CARES funds on the Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences campus, is almost ready for operation. The plant, with the capacity to generate 1,000 litres of medical oxygen in a minute, is sufficient to supply 100 ordinary beds or 25 beds with ventilators.

Hassan district administration faced difficulty in procuring medical oxygen when COVID-19 reached its peak earlier this year. Many patients suffered without oxygen. The relatives of the dead blamed the non-availability of oxygen for the deaths. The HIMS has a facility to store 13kilo litres of oxygen. Often, the HIMS administration faced crisis-like situations when the storage tank was running out of stock, while the trucks carrying oxygen could not reach in time.

B.C. Ravi Kumar, Director of HIMS, told The Hindu that the plant would be ready soon. “The Central government set up the plant and the institute handle the costs related to electricity supply, pipeline and other expenses. This is sufficient to provide oxygen for 100 ordinary beds. The demand for oxygen for patients on ventilators would be high and hence the production of oxygen is sufficient to supply 25 beds with ventilators”, he said.

The hospital with 600 beds has to depend on external suppliers of oxygen. “However, with the new plant becoming operational, the demand will come down and pressure on the staff will less”, the director said. The Hindu