Oxygen shortage smothered, says Shangula
Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula yesterday said there would be no shortage of oxygen in state hospitals for at least the next three months as the problem has been dealt with successfully.
Shangula's comment follows yesterday's donation by the business community, through the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), to steadily supply medical oxygen to the health ministry to help fight Covid-19. There has been high demand for oxygen across the country in both public and private hospitals. Through the NCCI, members have pledged to deliver a 21-tonne oxygen tank each week for the next three months, up to September this year.
He said the oxygen will be distributed for use in public health facilities across the country. “Words fail me to express adequately our appreciation and our relief,” he added. The distribution and logistical details of the oxygen will be sorted out between the technical teams of the health ministry and Afrox.
“I take this opportunity to commend the NCCI for reaching out and supporting Government efforts during this difficult time. We are all in this together. Let us all do our part to protect ourselves, our families and our communities,” said Shangula.
Furthermore, a 20-tonne bulk liquid oxygen tank dedicated to supply medical oxygen for the Katutura respiratory unit was installed and commissioned recently. “With pressure relieved from the existing hospital oxygen generating system, the latter is now able to provide the required purity of above 93% to the Katutura hospital,” the minister noted. He said with financial assistance from the Social Security Commission, a new gas generating system with the capacity of producing 370 litres of oxygen per minute was also installed and commissioned this week.
This system is dedicated to supply oxygen to the Covid–19 intensive care unit at the Windhoek Central Hospital, while the existing system will continue to serve the hospital, as was the case before.
“We will install a 13.5-tonne bulk oxygen tank at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital, dedicated for the Covid-19 isolation and treatment unit, which has a capacity of 80 beds. It is also envisaged to install additional gas generating systems at other health facilities across the country,” continued the minister. The introduction of these systems will reduce the use of oxygen cylinders, which has proven to be capitalintensive.