IGIMS to have 60-kilo litre oxygen storage capacity, 3 generation plants

The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), an autonomous institution on the pattern of AIIMSDelhi, will be the state’s first medical college hospital to have an oxygen storage capacity of 60-kilo litres in addition to having three pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants.

Together, the three oxygen plants will have a capacity to generate up to 2,233 litres per minute of oxygen. These plants, along with the cryogenic liquid medical oxygen tanks, are expected to be commissioned by end of August.

The institute allocated a fresh area on its campus to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday to set up two oxygen generation plants after the space earmarked earlier was found to be low-lying. The two oxygen generation plants are being set up under the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM CARES) fund. Each plant will have a capacity to generate 1,000 litres per minute (LPM) oxygen, said Shailendra Kumar Singh, superintending engineer (biomedical), IGIMS.

Earlier, the institute had on July 18 commissioned its first 233 LPM oxygen generation plant, facilitated through Patna MP and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“We have spoken to the authorities in the DRDO and requested them to expedite installation of the two oxygen generation plants. We expect them to be ready within a month,” said IGIMS director Dr NR Biswas.

“Besides, one of the two cryogenic tanks of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), each having 20-kilo litre capacity, has been installed. Civil work on the laying of the pipeline is now underway. We expect all oxygen-related work to be complete within a month,” added Dr Biswas.

The IGIMS, which has 1,050 in-patient beds, with plans to scale it up by another 1,900 beds, has also put up its 20-kilo litre cryogenic LMO tank and work on laying the pipeline is underway.

“One 20 kilo-litre LMO tank is equivalent to 2,250 D-type cylinders, each having 7,000 litres (approx.) oxygen. We will have three such tanks on our campus, in addition to three PSA oxygen generation plants, making us self-sufficient in medical oxygen,” said Singh.

In anticipation of the third wave of Covid-19, one tank each of 20 kilo-litre LMO has also been set up at the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) and the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), both in Patna. The Darbhanga Medical College Hospital (DMCH) will be taken up after installation work at the IGIMS is completed, said a health official.

While Patna Medical College Hospital, Nalanda Medical College Hospital, IGIMS and Darbhanga Medical College Hospital will have two cryogenic LMO tanks each of 20-kilo litre storage capacity, the remaining six staterun medical colleges will have one such tank. All these are expected to be commissioned by August.