Faridabad hospital oxygen plant non-operational for six months

Tribune News Service

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, April 15

The oxygen production plant at Badshah Khan (BK) Civil Hospital here has been non-operational for the last about six months.

Due to this, the hospital is sourcing oxygen supply from outside sources, despite having the state-of-art in-house production capacity.

According to the sources in the health department, the 200-bed hospital, one of the largest government hospital in the state, has been facing issues in supplying oxygen after the 1,000 LPM (litres per minute) oxygen plant stopped production at required norms last year due to technical problems.

No shortage of supply

There is no shortage of oxygen supply in the hospital. The supply is being maintained from 40 to 50 Type-D cylinders of gas procured from outside each month. Besides, oxygen is also being supplied from another in-house plant. — Dr Savita Yadav, Principal medical officer, Civil hospital

While the matter has been taken up by the department authorities, the plant is yet to resume production.

Though the plant is capable of oxygen production, due to substandard or low purity levels, it cannot be put to use, claimed sources. “The purity level of oxygen, which should be 92 per cent or above, has been much lower due to issues related to damaged parts or the upkeep of the machinery,” said an employee on the condition of anonymity. Improper distillation of the gas leads to higher levels of impurity which makes the gas of no use for the patients, he said.

The plant was set up under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drive during the Covid pandemic in 2021. Lack of annual maintenance contract (AMC) with the company or the agency concerned is said to be the main cause of the delay in the plant repair, it is reported. The cost of the AMC is reported to be around Rs 5 lakh. The problem has also led to poor maintenance of flow meters and oxygen supply points installed on the gas pipeline connected with the beds, as many of the meters have also been lying non-functional.

However, claiming that there is no shortage of oxygen supply in the hospital, Dr Savita Yadav, Principal Medical Officer (PMO) of the civil hospital, said supply is being maintained from 40 to 50 Type-D cylinders of gas procured from outside each month, which she said is more affordable. She said oxygen was also being supplied from another in-house plant having a capacity of 200 LPM, though it was not a piped supply. She said the decision of having the AMC is to be taken by the authorities of the head office.

The hospital attends to over 2,200 patients in OPD and nearly 100 in emergency wing daily.

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