Telangana breathes easy on medical oxygen front

As against the present demand between 260 MT and 270 MT, State has 470 metric tonnes of oxygen

Hyderabad: Even as oxygen is turning out to be in severe shortage across the country, Telangana having taken up steps on a war footing, appears to be all set to tide over the intense second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic with sufficient oxygen in stock.

The sustained efforts of the State government over the last one year, with timely decisions coming in from Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, have seen procurement of additional stocks of medical oxygen through various sources and establishment of infrastructure to ramp up internal production, thus ensuring that there is no major shortage of oxygen anywhere in the State.

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To further augment the bed capacity in government hospitals for Covid patients, the State government will start utilising the 550-bed ESIC Hospital in Nacharam and utilise another 200 beds at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) from Wednesday.

At present, the demand for medical oxygen among patients in Telangana hovers between 260 metric tonnes and 270 metric tonnes. The Centre has allotted the State close to 370 metric tonnes of medical oxygen from various industries. Apart from that, Telangana has an internal production capacity of 120 metric tonnes with the Union Health Ministry recently permitting the State to draw an additional 70 metric tonnes of oxygen from the nearby Bellary Steel Plant. All this will add up to over 470 metric tonnes of oxygen, with which the State is expected to ride over the second wave.

Apart from this, the State has been provided five oxygen concentrators, capable of producing oxygen from ambient air, which have been installed in five government hospitals. The oxygen concentrator at Gandhi Hospital can produce 29 lakh litres of oxygen per day, while at TIMS, Gachibowli, the machine can produce 14 lakh litres per day. At Khammam, it can produce 8.6 lakh litres per day, while at the Bhadrachalam Government Hospital, the oxygen concentrator can produce 4.5 lakh litres per day and at Karimnagar, the capacity is 5.6 lakh litres per day.

“In case there is a shortage of oxygen due to any reason, these hospitals are capable of producing oxygen on their own. In the last one year, we have established close to 22 oxygen tankers with a capacity to hold 22 kilo litres of oxygen in 22 government hospitals across the State. These facilities will also be useful to meet the projected oxygen demand,” officials said.

To ensure that oxygen reaches the bedside of the patient, the Chief Minister has given the green signal to establish oxygen lines to nearly 3,010 hospital beds in government hospitals across the State. Works to establish these medical lines have already begun on a war footing and are expected to be completed in a week or 10 days.

Out of the 3,010 beds, a total of 1,000 beds have been set aside and will be equipped with ventilators, CPAP and BiPAP facilities as well, Health Minister Eatala Rajender said here on Tuesday.

New oxygen lines:

Gandhi Hospital: 400 beds,
TIMS, Gachibowli: 300 beds,
MGM Warangal: 300 beds
NIMS: 200 beds,
MCH Suryapet: 200 beds,
Government General Hospital, Nalgonda: 200 beds,
GGH, Mahabubnagar: 200 beds,
MCH Siddipet: 200 beds
100 beds each in District and Area Hospitals in Mancherial, Malakpet, Golconda, Vanasthalipuram, S D Eye Hospital, Ameerpet, Nacharam, GGH Hospital in Nizamabad, Chest Hospital

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