Four years on, oxygen plant at Thural hospital yet to be set up

An oxygen plant sanctioned under PM Cares Fund in 2020 for the Civil Hospital, Thural, 35 km from Palampur, is yet to be made operational because of the official bottlenecks and red tape.

Despite instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to all state governments for speedy installation of the plants, no headway has been made in installing this plant in the past four years. The equipment has been dumped in a shed on the premises of Civil Hospital, Thural.

A medical officer told The Tribune that in the past four years, no one had come for its installation. The authorities concerned were yet to decide on what floor or in which room the plant was to be installed. Besides, power supply infrastructure, including a transformer, is yet to be provided, which would entail an added expenditure of over Rs 15 lakh, the officer said.

It is also learnt that the plant is to be installed in a new building which was under construction in 2020. However, in 2022, when the Congress government came to power in the state, the construction work of the university was either stopped or slowed down because of the non- availability of funds which further hampered the installation of the oxygen plant.

As per a letter of the Centre to the state governments, it was their responsibility to provide space and infrastructure to plants so that their installation was not delayed. The Centre assigned the task to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and directed the state governments to undertake the construction of the structure. However, no headway was made in the past four years for the installation of the plant.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that earlier, this plant was to be installed at the Civil Hospital, Baijnath. Later, on the directions of the Secretary, Health, it was shifted to the Thural Civil Hospital in October.

Dr Vivek Karol, Chief Medical Officer, Kangra, said the matter had come to his knowledge. He said, “I will enquire from the lower authorities why the plant has not been made operational. Since I joined recently in Kangra, I cannot say much for the delay caused in the installation of the plant.”