Hyderabad: The State government on Friday directed all private hospitals in Telangana, which have registered to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients, to install oxygen generation plants within their premises by August 31.
In case the private healthcare institutions fail to install the life-saving oxygen generating plants, their eligibility to treat Covid patients would be cancelled, warned the Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr G Srinivasa Rao.
The capacity of the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants that have to be installed would correspond to the overall bed capacity of private hospitals. Private hospitals with a capacity of up to 200 beds will have to install PSA oxygen generating plants of 500 litre per minute (LPM) capacity, those with a capacity of 200 beds to 500 beds will have to install oxygen generation plants of 1000 LPM and hospitals with more than 500 beds will have install oxygen plants of 2000 LPM, Dr Rao said.
Given the risk of a surge in Covid infections due to the Delta variant, the health authorities said it had become mandatory for public and private hospitals involved in treating Covid patients to have PSA oxygen generation plants within their campus.
The State government has already launched a massive exercise to establish 132 PSA oxygen generating plants in government hospitals. To ensure the oxygen generated in the plants reach the patient’s bedside, the health wing is in the process of establishing dedicated oxygen lines to 27,966 hospital beds.
At present, there are 10,000 beds that have medical oxygen lines while the remaining 17,966 beds are expected to be completed in the next few months. The State government is taking up these works with a cost of Rs 53.58 crore in 133 government hospitals across Telangana.
The PSA generating plants are known for being cost-efficient in generating extremely clean and good quality oxygen. The technology also provides uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen and enables hospitals to produce quality oxygen at a place and time of choice, without the need to depend on external oxygen suppliers. Each medical oxygen plant will also come with a three-year maintenance contract from the manufacturers.
Crisis preparedness
• Hospitals up to 200 beds should have 500 litre per minute (LPM) capacity oxygen plant
• Hospitals with 200 to 500 beds must have 1,000 LPM capacity plant
• Hospitals with more than 500 beds must have 2,000 LPM capacity plants
• In case of failure, facility concerned will lose permission to treat Covid patients
• 132 PSA oxygen plants being installed in govt hospitals
• Oxygen plants being built with a cost of Rs 103 cr