MADURAI: At a time when the entire country is battling a shortage of medical oxygen, Madurai is preparing for a self-reliant future. Soon, the district will have seven oxygen generator plants at five government hospitals, namely the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine (GHTM) at Thoppur and government hospitals at Thirumangalam, Vadipatti and Melur. Producing gaseous oxygen, the plants are being sponsored by several private companies through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding.
Collector S Aneesh Sekhar told The New Indian Express that the establishment of nine oxygen generator plants at five government hospitals had been proposed.
In the coming weeks, all of them would be set up. The nine oxygen plants would manufacture about 5,000 litres of oxygen per minute (l pm). As of now, works for commissioning seven plants have commenced, sources said.
Finance Minister and Madurai Central MLA PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan said that it was a long-needed change. Revamping the medical infrastructure in the district would make it capable of handling any epidemic or pandemic in the future, he explained.
"At the peak of Covid-19 crisis, hospitals in Madurai had to depend on supply of oxygen from other states (that required the approval of the Centre) or depend on just one major manufacturer in the State. To cut out the dependence on the Centre to refill oxygen every single day as well as on the wait period for the Oxygen Express trains and oxygen-laden lorries, it was decided to come up with a plan to produce oxygen locally. Self-reliance is the only goal," he said. Thiagarajan took the initiative by bringing together several industrialists to contribute CSR funds, sources added.
Explaining the process of gaseous oxygen production, a senior official at the GRH said that by adopting Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) technique, atmospheric air that has 78% of nitrogen and 21% of oxygen is passed through (imported) zeolite sieve that filters nitrogen and gives away oxygen with a 93-96% purity level.
"In-house production of medical oxygen is much cheaper than buying oxygen cylinders as the only expense incurred is the electricity charge; the freely available air is the raw material. Also, the oxygen plants have a lifetime of over 10 years," he added. The official further stated that the oxygen plants would be useful for critically ill patients even after the pandemic ends.
At the GRH, initially, three oxygen generator plants that would produce a total of 1,730 litres per minute (lpm) are being set up by Ramco Cements Limited, Aquasub Engineering and Rotary Club of Madurai West Trust, said Dean Dr A Rathinavel. The sites for the three plants have been earmarked on the ground floor of the Trauma Care Centre (TCC) block and construction works started on Wednesday, he added.
An official of Ramco Cements Limited said that an Rs 85 lakh-worth oxygen plant would be installed at GRH in a couple of weeks. A senior official of Aquasub Engineering, a Coimbatore-based pump manufacturing company, said that an oxygen plant (capacity of filling about 130 oxygen cylinders a day) worth Rs 70 lakh would be established at the hospital in about three weeks.
Secretary of Rotary Club of Madurai West Trust T Ravee mentioned that Paramount Textile Mills Private Limited, Solartis Technology Service Private Limited, Energy Livingscapes and others jointly sponsored an oxygen plant (enough to fill 100 oxygen cylinders a day) worth Rs 35 lakh through the Trust. The plant would be commissioned at the GRH in a week's time, he added.
At the GHTM in Thoppur, Thiagarajar Mills is to set up an oxygen plant at Rs 50 lakh in about a month's time. Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are jointly setting up an oxygen plant at the government Vadipatti hospital, said the Collector. It is likely to begin operation in a week, said an official of the Health department.
"Similarly, two other private entities are sponsoring each of the two oxygen plants being set up at the government hospitals at Thirumangalam and Melur. Works are likely to be completed by the end of this week," the official added.