Inox Air Products, one of the largest manufacturers of industrial and medical gases in India, said that its proposed plant at Hosur will produce liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen and liquid argon and will be commissioned and operational in December 2022.
“The commissioning of this plant would augment our liquid medical oxygen production capacity by 50%,” Siddharth Jain – director, Inox Air Products, said. With an investment of ₹150 crore, the Hosur plant will be identical to the Sriperumbudur plant which is currently producing 200 tonnes per day (TPD) of liquid gases.
The Sriperumbudur facility is the largest medical oxygen manufacturing unit in the State with supplies going to 122 hospitals across the region. From a pre-COVID-19 daily medical oxygen supply average of 70 TPD in February 2020, it scaled up to a daily average of 180 TPD in April 2021 and in May, its capacity reached 149 TPD. “The Tamil Nadu market holds vital significance to us. So far, we have invested more than ₹ 215 crore in the State,” Mr.Jain said.
According to him, all States should increase medical oxygen storage capacity. He explained that with the surge in COVID-19 cases, every hospital increased the number of beds and ventilators, while the infrastructure to handle medical oxygen remained limited.
“Due to the storage constraints, the frequency of filling storage tanks at hospitals increased from once in four days in pre-COVID-19 days to once in eight hours. This sudden increase in demand had put an unprecedented stress on the entire manufacturing and distribution team at our plant.” He pointed out that all State governments must work towards strengthening the supply chain and storage.
