‘Oxygen Pandal’ in Tiruppur helps Covid patients breathe easy

TIRUPUR: An 80-year-old woman Covid patient in Tiruppur, whose oxygen levels plummeted on Sunday evening, was left gasping for breath as her family members frantically called up all the hospitals in the textile town for a bed. The response they got from various hospitals was the same that many patients across the country have been getting: “No bed!”

Just then, one of her relatives got to know about an “Oxygen Pandal” in the town and immediately called up the facility at 1.50 am. “Within 10 minutes, they arranged for a bed and she began to receive oxygen at the pandal. In the morning, we shifted her to a private medical facility in Tiruppur city,” her relative said.

The Oxygen Pandal, on the lines of Oxygen Langar that has been running in many Gurudwaras in the country, is the joint effort of a nursing home and an NGO for Covid patients in Tiruppur city. The pandal gives Covid patients emergency oxygen support for free, while their relatives scout for a hospital with a vacant oxygen bed. “In order to mitigate the rampant rush for oxygen facilities, we had installed a liquid oxygen plant in our hospital,” Sakthi Nursing Home CEO Dr S Sakhtivel told Express. 

“The plant is capable of filling 30 7,000-litre cylinders every day. All the 60 beds for Covid patients in our facility are occupied. Still, a lot of patients kept lining up in our clinic for oxygen support. In this situation, we decided to set up a temporary pandal to offer oxygen support,” he added. The idea was supported by Nattrinai Foundation’s patron ‘Majestic’ Krishnan.

“We set up the pandal outside the hospital, using metal sheets. The entire area measuring 600 square feet houses five beds. Patients can rest here for upto six hours and inhale oxygen free of cost. Their relatives can meanwhile search for vacant hospital beds,” Sakthivel further said. The patients need not pay for medicines too at the pandal.Welcoming the initiative, Indian Medical Association (IMA) Tiruppur secretary Dr Rajkumar said, “The nursing home has won appreciation from all doctors and hospitals here. This medical facility is also renowned for implementing a biomedical waste system with an alarm system.”