NEW DELHI, 24 Dec: With some countries witnessing a surge in Covid cases, the Centre on Saturday urged states and union territories to ensure the availability of liquid medical oxygen, adequate inventory of cylinders and functional life support equipment such as ventilators at hospitals to face any challenge.
The health ministry asked them to ensure that pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generating plants are kept fully functional and regular mock drills are conducted to check them.
In a letter to all states and UTs, Health Ministry Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said that the operation and maintenance of the medical infrastructure are of utmost importance to meet any eventuality, even though the number of cases in the country is low now.
He said that medical oxygen is an important resource in all clinical settings, particularly during pandemic, and reliable oxygen supply is critical for saving lives.
In the letter, the official requested the additional chief secretaries/principal secretaries, and health secretaries of all states and UTs to direct the departments concerned to ensure that PSA plants are kept fully functional and regular mock drills are conducted to check them.
“The availability of liquid medical oxygen in the health facilities and uninterrupted supply chain for their refilling should be ensured. Adequate inventory of oxygen cylinders, along with backup stocks and robust refilling system, is maintained,” the letter said.
States have also been urged to ensure the availability of functional life support equipment such as ventilators, BiPAP and SpO2 systems, along with their consumables.
Oxygen control rooms should be reinvigorated at states and UTs level for prompt resolutions of oxygen-related issues and challenges, the letter said.
“On-boarding of all healthcare facilities utilising oxygen to ODAS platform for daily oxygen demand and consumption be monitored for implementation,” the letter stated.
During the Covid pandemic, the Centre supported the states and UTs by installing and commissioning PSA plants, oxygen concentrators, cylinders, and other oxygen-related infrastructure to ensure availability of medical oxygen at a cost effective and reliable manner in public health facilities across the country, the letter said.
The support for ventilators was also extended by the Centre to ensure better patient management, it added. (PTI)
