Oxygen bed expansion needs planning, say private medical colleges

Private medical colleges, which have been asked by the state government to equip their beds with oxygen supply to handle the current Covid-19 crisis, have warned against unplanned expansion.

For, with the increase in the number of oxygenated beds and without adequate oxygen supply, teaching hospitals worry that they will be unable to sustain the pressure for all the new beds.

Not just that, the manpower will also have to be stepped up as hospitals will have to either train existing staff to handle the oxygenated beds or hire afresh.

After a recent meeting with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, at least 20 private medical colleges sent a proposal to the government for upgrading beds as of Monday. The government is likely to give them 6-8 weeks time to upgrade the infrastructure.

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“The government will extend support for setting up a medical oxygen generator, one liquid medical oxygen tank and the pipeline,” an official in the medical education department said. As of now, the government has proposed to bear 70 per cent of the cost that colleges will incur.

Officials say that even with the oxygen generator, dependency on liquid oxygen cannot be done away with since ICU may require high-pressure oxygen.

Increasing oxygen beds could also lead to possible low oxygen pressure, endangering patient safety.

“With our recent expansion of oxygen beds, we are dangerously consuming an average of 9,500 cubic metres of oxygen a day (pre-Covid being 1,500 cubic metres). For the past month, we have risked with just 1-1.5 day stock. With further expansion, oxygen stocks should be not less than three days’ equivalent, for uninterrupted supply,” a senior professional in a private medical college in Bengaluru said, requesting anonymity.

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Former minister M B Patil, whose trust runs the BM Patil Medical College in Vijayapura, concurred. “In our hospital, we have a 11 KLD liquid oxygen storage plant. We have 300 oxygen beds. We are now raising it to 500. We have set up another 11 KLD liquid oxygen storage plant. Unless the government provides oxygen for the additional beds, we can’t make it functional,” he said.

Further, technicians are crucial to monitor oxygen beds. “In several hospitals, staff crunch is an issue. Without technicians, maintaining oxygen beds will be a challenge,” Patil added.

There are 40 private medical colleges in Karnataka. The government is hoping to cumulatively add about 4,000 oxygen beds by making use of infrastructure in these institutions.