Oxygen For COVID-19 Patients: No Production Shortage, Odisha Faces Refilling Problem

Bhubaneswar: Even as the production of oxygen is far more than the demand in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic in Odisha, refilling the cylinders in time remains an area of concern for the state government.

At present, the state has oxygen production capacity of 129.68 tonne per day while its demand was around 36 tonne on Monday. Besides, 375 tonne of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) is also available, official sources said.

On Saturday, the state had a production of 52.48 tonne of cylinder oxygen and 223.54 tonne of LMO.

Additional chief secretary, Health and Family Welfare Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra has claimed that there is no shortage of oxygen for supply. “What we need is managing the refill efficiently ensuring that no cylinders remain empty even for a few hours. A special team has been monitoring that,” TOI quoted him as saying.

The state has 10,000 D type (50 litre) cylinders to be supplied to COVID hospitals at district level having 4,856 beds, the sources said. These hospitals totally depend on cylinder oxygen as those do not have LMO storage facility.

The hospitals running on public-private mode have highest demand of 81.87 tonne against the supply logistics of 120.22 tonne.

LMO Storage Plant In Berhampur

Meanwhile a 20,000-litre capacity LMO storage plant at a cost of around Rs 35 lakh is coming up at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur. The construction work of the plant is over and the machines will be installed soon, the TOI quoted Ganjam collector Vijay Amruta Kulange as saying.

Besides catering to the need of the MKCG, the plant will supply oxygen to other hospitals in the state.