State-run oil companies to set up 100 oxygen generation plants at hospitals

State-run oil companies are setting up 100 oxygen generation plants at hospitals across the country to help save lives in the middle of a pandemic.

Hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi will be covered under the initiative, an Oil Ministry statement said on Thursday.

The Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Medical Oxygen Generation Plants will cater to hospitals with 200 to 500 beds.
Orders have been placed with the Indian vendors for these plants, the statement said, adding that some of these plants will start functioning this month while all plants are expected to operate by July. Oil companies will use their CSR funds to finance these plants.

The plants will employ technology provided by DRDO and CSIR, absorbing nitrogen from ambient air to concentrate oxygen.

India is in the middle of an unprecedented health crisis with lakhs of Covid infections and thousands of deaths being reported every day. Lack of medical oxygen in hospitals for patients is resulting in deaths almost every day in the country. The government and companies are trying to ramp up the supply of this life-saving gas.