50+ beds at hospital? O2 plant must within 6 mths

Gurgaon: The state government has made it mandatory for all hospitals with 50-plus beds to set up oxygen generation plants within six months, a move aimed at ensuring that medical facilities become self-reliant and their supply remains uninterrupted in times of a crisis. Of nearly 100 large and small hospitals in the city, none has an oxygen plant on its premises.
State health minister Anil Vij said that existing hospitals will have to set up their own oxygen plants within the deadline fixed by the Haryana government, while new hospitals will get the licence for operations only after installing such a facility on their premises. “If the private hospitals fail to comply with the order, strict action will be taken against them as per law,” said Vij, who is also Haryana’s home minister.
The Haryana health minister’s directive comes a day after Union minister and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh apparently attributed the shortage of medical oxygen in the city to the failure of big hospitals in setting up plants to produce the life-saving gas.
Currently, Haryana needs 300 metric tonnes of oxygen daily but the state has been allocated only 252 metric tonnes. “We are facing challenges in transporting oxygen from Odisha due to a shortage of tankers. At a meeting on Tuesday, the state government decided to import cryogenic tankers so that authorities are able to transport their share of oxygen to the state,” the health minister said.
“For the time being, the government needs at least 10 such tankers to ensure oxygen transportation to the state. The shortage of oxygen in Haryana will be resolved if we are able to transport our share of oxygen from Odisha,” Vij added.
Deputy commissioner Gurgaon Yash Garg said, “The move will address the oxygen shortage issue to a great extent in the fight against Covid and other similar crises in the future,” he said.