10 PSA oxygen plants set up in Ludhiana district

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 5

In order to further ramp up the existing health infrastructure and prepare Ludhiana to successfully fight the possible third Covid wave, 10 new pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generating plants, which are a source of medical-grade life-saving gas, with 5,415 LPM capacity, have been installed in the district, the administration has confirmed.

Besides, the district has already acquired maximum cylinders and the highest number of oxygen concentrators to build a strong medical oxygen infrastructure for meeting the anticipated high demand of the life-saving gas in future.

The development assumes significance as an acute shortage of medical oxygen, its cylinders and concentrators was faced while catering to the unprecedented demand of the serious and critical patients who were hospitalised in hordes during the second Covid wave, which had rapidly slid into a devastating crisis when the health facilities had unbearably fell short, oxygen supplies had ran low and many died even without seeing a doctor.

Ludhiana, which being the biggest district with a maximum population of over 3.5 million, had passed through a harrowing time during the deadly second Covid wave.

Sharing details, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma told The Tribune, here on Thursday that the new PSA oxygen plants have been set up at a cost of Rs 9.71 crore at 10 different hospitals in both government and private sectors. The expenditure has been borne by the government, several private companies and NGOs under their CSR activities.

While two PSA oxygen plants — one at Civil Hospital with 700 LPM capacity and other at Vardhman Urban Health Centre with 500 LPM capacity — have been made functional, eight others are in the advanced stage of completion.

Another PSA oxygen plant set up at ESI Hospital with 1,000 LPM capacity will start functioning on August 10. One more oxygen plant with similar capacity at Civil Hospital will start on August 12.

While three plants will start operations on August 15 — one each at SDH, Raikot, with 250 LPM capacity, UHC, Jwadi, with 165 LPM capacity, and SBISM Hospital in Rara Sahib with 500 LPM capacity — two others — one each at GTB Charitable Hospital with 500 LPM capacity and SDH, Khanna, with 300 LPM capacity — will be established by August 20 and 31, respectively.

Another PSA oxygen plant with 500 LPM capacity will come up at CMC Hospital in Ludhiana by October 10.

The state government is already in the process to further augment the medical oxygen supplies, under which several systems and processes are being put in place, besides building up the requisite infrastructure.

Besides, 41 PSA plants are being installed through the Centre and 37 through aid and donations in the medical colleges and healthcare facilities. While six PSA plants were already installed and functional in the state, work to install 11 is in progress and 61 are in the pipeline.

While three cryogenic LMO tanks in medical colleges at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot are being installed at Rs 2.27 crore, six more tanks will be installed at a medical college and five district hospitals at Rs 4.28 crore. Another Rs 11.17 crore is being spent on the allied works for PSA plants.

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