The air around us is about 21% Oxygen, which is ideal for most people. However, when someone experiences difficulty breathing, it may be necessary to give them high concentration oxygen. Breathing difficulty is one of the main complications associated with Covid-19, because the blood does not get oxygenated adequately. So, it is vital to have a supply of oxygen ready wherever Covid-19 patients are being cared for in a hospital setting.
Traditionally oxygen has been supplied to hospitals by tankers or in large cylinders. This is costly and environmentally damaging, and the supply can be uncertain, especially with continuing restrictions on transport due to lock-downs. The new concentrator plant allows us to generate our own oxygen supply on site. The plant draws in air and extracts or concentrates the oxygen, bringing it to about 95% purity. This plant, which was funded through a grant for Covid-19 relief from the Azim Premji Foundation, can supply between 1,000 and 1,300 cubic feet of oxygen per hour - the equivalent of more than 100 oxygen cylinders in a day.
CMC has installed an Oxygen Generator Plant at our new campus at Kannigapuram. Although this centre was developed as an advanced trauma and higher specialty centre, at the request of the local district administration, part of the new hospital is currently used to admit Covid-19 patients. The plant has been fast tracked to ensure that we can provide good quality oxygen to these patients, but it will continue to be of service in the new campus for many years to come.
Many thanks to Azim Premji Foundation for their generous grant, and to the suppliers and our engineering team for getting the oxygen plant up and running so quickly. We sincerely hope many kinds of such Oxygen Generator Plants be set in hospitals which could be helpful during the pandemics and otherwise too in the times of climate change.
