BMC to set up 16 oxygen plants in 12 hospitals

With the rise in cases of covid-19 positive patients, citizens are fighting for beds, oxygen, medicines and other related facilities. Today citizens are literally fighting for their life in the hospital because remdisivir, tocilizumab or oxygen cylinders or beds, etc nothing is available due to the massive 2nd wave of covid-19.

Maharashtra and Mumbai has to rely on other states for supply of oxygen. To speed this up Railways, Air Force, Military have also stepped in.

To become less dependant on oxygen on others, Under the guidance of Municipal Commissioer Iqbal singh Chahal Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika will be setting up 16 oxygen plants at 12 hospitals. Additional Commissioner P. Velrasu will be overseeing its implementation. These plants are estimated to produce 43 metric tons of oxygen from atmospheric air daily. The estimated cost of the set up and functional of these oxygen plants is approximate 90 crores.

An added advantage is that cost wise this will further cheaper (40% to 50 % less) compared to the cyllinders supplied currently by private suppliers. The project shelf life of this set up is 15 years upwards.

How these work: The plants will use pressure swing absorption technology to suck air which will be compressed in a machine. It will be later filtered to sort out small particles and impurities. The pure air is then collected in an oxygen generator in which Zeolit chemical mixture separates nitrogen and oxygen. The oxygen under suitable pressure is supplied to patients through a pipeline.  

The BMC has already set up two oxygen generation plants at Kasturba Hospital and Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Centre in Jogeshwari. The tenders have been floated and once the process is completed, the plants will be set up within one month.  

Additional Municipal Commissioner P. Velarasu said the plants will not only ensure in-house supply of oxygen to civic hospitals but will also reduce the expenditure on transporting oxygen cylinders.

Information & P.C. through BMC Twitter handle