SAMBALPUR: A Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generator plant will come up at Sambalpur within a month to address the oxygen requirement of the Covid-19 hospital on the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) premises. Being set up by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited, it will have the capacity to generate 960 litres per minute.
Earlier on April 25, the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced that the PSU will set up medical oxygen generation plants at different locations across the country including seven in Odisha to facilitate captive oxygen generation facilities at hospitals for supply of medical-grade oxygen. The PSA oxygen generator plant coming up at the Sambalpur DHH is one among the seven proposed plants.
The PSA plant employs a technology that absorbs nitrogen from ambient air to concentrate oxygen for supply to hospitals. The oxygen generated can be supplied straight to the site of use either through a dedicated pipeline or compressed to fill cylinders.
The Covid-19 hospital on the premises of DHH has 200 beds including 50 general beds, 65 ICU beds and 85 High-Dependency Units (HDU) beds. At present, the hospital uses at least 300 jumbo cylinders every day to cater to all the patients. With the operation of the PSA oxygen generator plant, the hospital will get adequate supply of oxygen and dependence on other facilities will decrease.
Sambalpur District Medical Officer (DMO) Alekh Mohapatra said currently, the DHH has around 400 jumbo oxygen cylinders which are refilled from three oxygen plants in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. To meet the oxygen requirement of Covid hospital, the cylinders are sent for refilling continuously. Under such circumstances, the PSA oxygen generator plant will be a blessing for the hospital.
While the Public Works Department has already started the civil work on the DHH premises, the plant will arrive from Delhi and be installed here. It will be operational in a month’s time, the DMO informed. “The plant can be connected to the existing oxygen pipeline of the hospital and will supply oxygen in three specifications which can be used as per our requirement,” he said.
Jual writes to Centre to augment Covid care in S’garh
Rourkela: With Sundargarh district being worst affected by the second wave, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Chairman and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to augment Covid treatment facilities in the district from PMCARES fund. In a letter to Singh, Jual requested him to set up 100 ICU beds and a medical oxygen plant at the NTPC Medical College & Hospital at Sundagarh town. He also urged for setting up 200 ICU beds at the new Super Speciality Hospital of the IGH at Rourkela. In collaboration with State government, both hospitals are working as Covid-19 treatment facilities but with limited ICU beds. Meanwhile, the district on Wednesday reported 964 new cases including 300 from Rourkela with Test Positivity Rate of 23.47 percent.