MUMBAI: The state could require up to 3,838 metric tons of medical oxygen during the peak of a possible third wave when active cases may skyrocket to 12.95 lakh, according to projections drawn by the health authorities.
To tackle such a demand, the state has been steadily augmenting its storage and production capacity for the past four months. It has managed to almost double it to reach 2,500MT from the previous capacity of 1,200MT. However, it could take a while to reach the desired volume of 3,838MT.
The state now has 150 liquid medical oxygen (LMO) tanks in public hospitals, including medical colleges, that can hold 2,000 kilolitres of oxygen. LMO is the mainstay in ICUs and high-dependency units, where patients on life-support require high pressure oxygen.
N Ramaswami, commissioner, National Health Mission, said the state plans to add 200 LMOs, the funds for which will be allocated from the Centre’s Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package (ECRP-II).
In addition to the LMOs, a total of 513 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants that can generate oxygen are also being installed in all districts. Sixty-eight of these plants, provided under the PM Cares Fund, have already been installed. “In all, more than 50% of the PSA have already been installed, while the rest are in process,” he said.
Mumbai has been building capacity to generate and store up to 400MT oxygen, up from its existing capacity of 250Kl.
According to the guidelines of the Centre, 70% of the supplies for a region have to come from LMOs, 20% from PSA plants and 10% from tanks, dura cylinders, etc. Ramaswami said that based on this formula and the active case projection for the third wave, every district has been asked to build capacity.
During the second wave, Maharashtra faced a severe crisis of medical oxygen, forcing it to borrow supplies from neighbouring states and enforce stricter norms like restricting the use of oxygen-guzzling devices such as high flow nasal cannula. Against the state’s capacity of 1,200MT oxygen, the demand had shot up to 1,800-1,900MT. To avoid similar sights of desperation, the Centre handed out comprehensive plans to states to increase their bed, medicine and oxygen capacity.
Dr Kanchan Wanere, state nodal officer for medical oxygen, said states have been told not just to create capacity that would suffice patients on a given day, but to create enough storage for the next three days.
The state received donations of 5,000 oxygen concentrators from PM Care Funds.
