20% oxygen plants operational: Centre

NEW DELHI: The Union government has sanctioned 1,222 pressure swing absorption (PSA) plants that act as oxygen generators for hospitals, and of these, 245 – roughly a fifth – have been commissioned in different regions till July 20, the Union health ministry told Parliament last week.

The Centre announced new plants will be set up across the country after the April-may peak of Covid-19 triggered an unprecedented shortage of medical oxygen, with reports suggesting there may have been hundreds of deaths nationwide during this period because the gas was in short supply.

“A total of 1,222 PSA oxygen generation plants with capacity of 1771.76 MT have been sanctioned... Out of these, as on 20th July, 2021, 245 plants have been commissioned,” Bharati Pravin Pawar, minister of state, Union health ministry, said in a reply in the Lok Sabha.

In October 2020, during the first wave of Covid-19 cases, the central government invited tenders for 162 PSA oxygen plants — by April 2021, only 33 of these were operational, according to a tweet by the Union health ministry on April 18.

In the aftermath of the second wave, the government first announced on April 26 that 551 plants will be set up using the PM Cares funds. These were in addition to an unnamed number that were to be funded by central ministries and public sector units (PSUS). On June 14, a statement by the ministry of science and technology quoted DRDO secretary C Satish Reddy as saying that the number of PSA plants to be set up under PM Cares was 850. DRDO has been executing some of the PSA plants projects, while for the rest, the government has floated tenders.

In a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on July 9, officials told the new cabinet that in all, over 1,500 PSA plants were set to be installed in the country. Altogether, these will support 400,000 beds, the statement added but without specifying by when these would be installed -the PM directed officials to ensure it is done at the earliest.

According to officials in the health ministry, who asked not to be named, an additional 250 PSA plants are expected to be installed by August 15 and the remaining from the lot of 1,222 sanctioned will be commissioned by the end of the year.