New pipeline in Railway Hospital to ensure steady oxygen supply

BENGALURU: To ensure the ICU patients in the 72-bed Railway Hospital behind KSR railway station do not face an oxygen shortage, a new pipeline to transport oxygen will be installed within a couple of days. This is to solve the issue of a suspected oxygen leak in the existing pipeline. For the past one week, the hospital has been facing a huge shortage of oxygen. The hospital has a centralised oxygen system in which the gas is circulated to all the floors in the hospital using pipes in the wall.

A top railway source said, “There seemed to be a gap between the amount of oxygen we were supplying to the patients and the quantity they were utilizing. Just like water pipes, there is a very high possibility of a leak in some points.” Divisional Railway Manager, A K Verma told TNIE, “A 12m pipeline will be put in place that will directly connect to our patients who are on ventilators and those that need high nasal flow oxygen. It is likely to be in place by Saturday.”

Asked about the oxygen shortage, Verma said, “The General Manager of South Western Railway has written to the Chief Secretary explaining the situation here.” The contract for an oxygen generation plant to be installed at the Railway Hospital at a cost of Rs 50 lakh would be awarded within three days. “It is likely to be ready within two months,” he said.

A liquid oxygen tank is set to be before July 15 by global firm, Praxair Inc, which would supply oxygen through its tankers, the DRM said. The Hospital was also in the process of buying 40 concentrators to tide over oxygen shortage. The Railway Division has a massive surge in covid positive patients with the Railway Hospital as well as its 75-bedded covid care centre full and a huge waiting list.