COVID-19 surge: PM CARES Fund allocates funds for 551 oxygen plants in public health facilities

The decision came in the wake of oxygen shortages at hospitals in the country amidst a surge of COVID-19 cases

A man waits to refill a medical oxygen cylinder at a charging station on the outskirts of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh on April 23, 2021.

The PM CARES Fund has approved allocation of funds for setting up 551 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) medical oxygen generation plants at public health facilities in the country, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on April 25.

With 162 such plants approved earlier, the decision would lead to setting up of an oxygen plant in all districts with government hospitals, an official said.

A tweet from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter handle about the development said: “Oxygen plants in every district to ensure adequate oxygen availability... An important decision that will boost oxygen availability to hospitals and help people across the nation. (Sic)”.

The PMO said the Fund had given in-principle approval to 551 PSA oxygen generation plants “in line with Prime Minister’s direction of boosting availability of oxygen to hospitals”. The decision came in the wake of oxygen shortages at hospitals in the country amidst a surge of COVID-19 cases.

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Prime Minister had ordered the plants to be set up as soon as possible and said they would boost oxygen availability at the district level, the statement said.

The plants would come up in selected government hospitals in district headquarters and the procurement would be done via the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, it said.

“The basic aim behind establishing PSA oxygen generation plants at government hospitals in the district headquarters is to further strengthen the public health system and ensure that each of these hospitals has a captive oxygen generation facility. Such an in-house captive oxygen generation facility would address the day-to-day medical oxygen needs of these hospitals and the district,” the PMO said.

It added that the liquid medical oxygen would serve as a top-up to the captive oxygen generation.

“Such a system will go a long way in ensuring that government hospitals in the districts do not face sudden disruption of oxygen supplies and have access to adequate uninterrupted oxygen supply to manage the COVID-19 patients and other patients needing such support,” the PMO said.

The PM CARES Fund had allocated ₹201.58 crore for installation of 162 PSA medical oxygen generation plants in public health facilities earlier this year, it added.