One year on, five PSAs sanctioned to Telangana yet to start functioning

HYDERABAD: Of the 162 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen tanks sanctioned last year by the Central government, five were supposed to come up in Telangana. However, none of them have started functioning till date. Of the five oxygen plants, two were sanctioned for Gandhi Hospital and TIMS, Gachibowli; and the remaining were for district hospitals in Khammam and Karimnagar and the Area Hospital in Bhadrachalam. The tenders for the same were called by the Central Medical Services Society of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare last year itself.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy visited the Gandhi Hospital on Friday and inspected the under-construction PSA oxygen tanks. He said that they are being installed and will become operational within one week. 

When Express spoke to officials from the five hospitals, they said that it will take at least a week or may be two for the plants to become operational. Officials from these hospitals pointed out that as of now, none of them are facing any problems due to the lack of establishment of these plants, as they have liquid oxygen tanks in stock. 

However, in case of non-availability of the liquid oxygen tanks, due to the ongoing oxygen shortage in the country or if the oxygen requirement goes up due to more patients, the PSA tanks will prove life-savers. 
The PSA tanks sanctioned by the Centre will generate oxygen on the premises of the hospitals, unlike liquid oxygen which is provided by private firms.

2,000 LPM TANK TO BE INSTALLED AT GANDHI HOSP
The proposed capacity of the Pressure Swing Adsorption tanks in the five hospitals are 2,000 litres per minute (LPM) in Gandhi Hospital, 1,000 LPM at TIMS Gachibowli, 400 LPM at Karimnagar district hospital, 600 LPM at Khammam district hospital and 300 LPM at Bhadrachalam area hospital