34 O2 plants yet to be commissioned in Karnataka

Thirty-four of the total 224 oxygen generation plants are yet to be commissioned in the state. The state plans to have a mock drill at all the commissioned plants on December 28.

The union health secretary has asked the states to conduct mock drills of all installed and commissioned Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants to ensure that they are fully operational so that oxygen of required quantity, pressure and purity reaches the intended patients at their bedside.

These drills are to be completed by the end of December, the union health ministry said (to avert a tragedy like Chamarajanagar where 24 died due to oxygen shortage in May this year). State health commissioner D Randeep told DH, “We will be taking up mock drills on December 28. That’s what we have planned. In 190 commissioned ones.”

In response to DH’s query on the functional status of oxygen plants in the state, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar’s office, in a statement, said, “Out of the 262 allocated plants, we have received 224 plants, 190 are commissioned with total plants’ capacity of 1,08,077 LPM (litres per minute) and production of 187 MT (metric tonne)/day”.

The staff at the minister’s office explained that at the rest of the 34 plants, the majority of issues are civil and electrical in nature. “They are in advanced stages of completion. By month-end, all 224 should be commissioned and working. The plants that we have not received are ones from CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds which have been promised but are yet to come,” a staffer said.

Giving a further breakdown of the total 262 plants allocated to the state, his office said, out of 170 plants being set up by the state (the rest are being provided by the central government), and CSR, 134 plants have been received, 106 commissioned, and 26 awaiting commissioning. The rest of the sites are yet to receive the plants. “There are a few post-commissioning issues in a few plants. We have trained 245 participants (in 10-hour training modules) in three batches.

Five (additional) batches are being planned (which are) in discussion with the skill development department,” the statement added.

An online training course on operating an oxygen plant was held by the union government for technicians, paramedical staff, doctors, and nurses of the health and medical education department in the first week of December.

Bidar district health officer Dr V G Reddy said, “We have oxygen generation plants in four taluk hospitals, one mother and child hospital, and two at Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences. In all seven are functioning, one at the community health centre at Santoor is undergoing civil work. Once turned on, it takes half an hour at the plant to start generating oxygen.”

Guidelines for conducting mock drills at oxygen generation plants

The state health commissioner D Randeep issued guidelines here on Thursday for conducting mock drills at the state's oxygen generation plants.

** Mock-drill to be conducted once every three months

** It is recommended that senior officials in the state such as ADC/DC/CMO/MS (additional deputy commissioner/ deputy commissioner/ chief medical officer/ medical superintendent) etc. oversee the mock-drill and ensure compliance

** If a facility has more than one PSA (pressure swing adsorption oxygen generation plant), then mock drill should be conducted for each PSA

** Drill should be conducted for at least six hours

** Oxygen purity should be checked in the PSA control panel display every two hours

** Check and ensure that the PSA plant is connected to facility MGPS (medical gas pipeline system) and there are no leakages either in the linked MGPS pipeline or manifold

** The oxygen pressure from PSA should be ranging from 4-6 bar

** The identified gaps should be reported and immediately resolved by the competent state agency/PSA supplier

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