BackState-run steel, oil firms to set up 10,500 beds for covid-19 patients
2,000 beds are being set up at state-run oil firms’ refineries in Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
PremiumNew Delhi: State-run steel and oil and gas firms are setting up 10,500 beds for the treatment of covid-19 patients near their plants and refineries, according to a statement from petroleum and natural gas ministry on Sunday.
While inaugurating a 500-bed covid care hospital near Baljattan village in Panipat; steel, petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the steel sector is setting up jumbo covid facilities in 15 places using gaseous oxygen, and around 8,500 oxygenated beds will be made available for the treatment of covid patients.
Also, 2,000 beds are being set up at state-run oil firms’ refineries at Bina in Madhya Pradesh, Kochi in Kerala, Panipat in Haryana, Bathinda in Punjab and Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
With the nation reeling under a medical oxygen shortage, India is looking to make available oxygenated beds near industries that produce oxygen by setting up temporary hospitals near them.
This comes in the backdrop of an acute oxygen availability crisis in the country amid a surge in covid infections, with hospital beds and medicines running out. The situation is alarming with the deaths of critically ill covid-19 patients due to low oxygen.
Also, around 1,500 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants are being set up through contributions from PM Cares Fund and state-run firms, among others. As part of this exercise, state-owned oil and gas firms are setting up PSA medical oxygen generation plants at 100 locations in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
In addition, the government is also working on repurposing existing nitrogen plants to produce oxygen. Also, refineries are supplying oxygen and procuring cryogenic containers for transporting liquid medical oxygen.
“About the contribution of petroleum and steel sector towards India’s fight against the pandemic, Shri Pradhan said that these two sectors together are supplying major part of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) national requirement on a daily basis. He also highlighted steps like import of LMO, procurement of oxygen concentrators and cryogenic containers, filling of cylinders at refineries and providing logistics support for transport of Liquid Oxygen," the statement said.
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