Patna: Oxygen plants to be set up at six railway hospitals

PATNA: The railways will set up at least six oxygen plants at its hospitals falling under the jurisdiction of the East Central Railway (ECR). The plants, which are expected to become functional soon, will cater to the needs of patients at five divisional railway hospitals and a superspecialty hospital at the Karbighaiya end of Patna Junction.
ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said the oxygen plants would be set up at the divisional railway hospitals at Danapur, Sonepur, Samastipur, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Dhanbad.
The five divisional railway hospitals and the superspecialty hospital in Patna have been dependent for oxygen supply on different agencies.
ECR superspecialty hospital chief medical director Dr R K Verma said the process to set up the plant would start soon. “The superspecialty hospital has four invasive ventilators, 20 ICU beds and 30 isolation beds for the for the Covid patients,” he added.
Railways has already converted its 120-bed divisional hospital at Danapur into a Covid-dedicated hospital for the railway employees. “This hospital is equipped with ventilator and ICU facilities for the treatment of Covid patients,” the CPRO said.
The CPRO said the Railway Board has approved setting up of at least 86 more oxygen plants at railway hospitals across the country. Of them, four plants have already been made functional.
The Railway Board has delegated power with the general manager to spend Rs 2 crore for sanctioning oxygen generation plants in each zone.