CM Arvind Kejriwal’s campaign to make Delhi self-sufficient in oxygen management a smashing success

Under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi is becoming self-reliant in the matter of medical oxygen supply. The Delhi Government today inaugurated 27 PSA plants of 31 metric ton capacity and two cryogenic oxygen refilling plants of 12 metric ton capacity across government hospitals in Delhi. This move came in view of the possible threat of COVID cases rising in the state.

Deputy Chief Minister  Manish Sisodia inaugurated two PSA Oxygen Plants of 0.9 and 1.80 MT capacity, respectively, at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya and Dr. Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan in East Delhi. While, Health Minister Satyendar Jain inaugurated three PSA Oxygen Plants at LNJP Hospital and one at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, having capacities of 5.31 MT and 1.80 MT, respectively. The Health Minister also inaugurated two Cryogenic Refilling Plants of 12 MT capacity near Siraspur Hospital. Apart from this, several MLAs also inaugurated the PSA Oxygen Plants set up in their respective areas.

Despite a sharp drop in the rate of COVID infection in Delhi, the Government is working on war footing to strengthen the health infrastructure in view of the potential threat of the pandemic. The Kejriwal Government is making its government hospitals self-sufficient to prevent any oxygen crisis in the future. In this regard, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Kejriwal Government will not let the lack of oxygen take place in any hospital in Delhi this time. The rate of infection in Delhi has come down, but the government is fully prepared to fight any future crisis. The Delhi government is setting up PSA oxygen plants in Delhi to reduce the dependence of hospitals on taking oxygen from outside the state. Other hospitals can also refill oxygen cylinders from these plants during emergencies.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “the Kejriwal Government will ensure that no hospital in Delhi faces oxygen shortage. The rate of COVID-19 infection in Delhi has reduced, but the Delhi Government is prepared to fight any such future crisis. The Delhi Government is setting up PSA oxygen plants in Delhi hospitals to reduce their oxygen dependence on external agencies and other hospitals can also refill oxygen cylinders from these oxygen plants during emergencies.”

The Deputy Chief Minister said that Delhi witnessed an overwhelming demand for oxygen during the second wave of COVID-19. “On many occasions the hospitals even had to face a shortage in supply of oxygen. In order to avoid such a situation during any crisis in the future, the Delhi Government is making hospitals in Delhi self-sufficient to provide for their oxygen needs. The Kejriwal Government is not only making Delhi’s hospitals self-sufficient for oxygen, but also is increasing the number of oxygen beds available in the hospitals,” he said.

Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, “27 PSA Oxygen plants and 2 cryogenic refilling plants have been established in Delhi. These plants have been made keeping in mind the 3rd wave of COVID-19. With the help of these PSA plants, a large part of the oxygen production can be done in the Delhi Government’s hospitals. Out of these 27 PSA plants, 3 plants were started in LNJP Hospital and 1 plant at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital. Their capacity is 5.31 MT and 1.80 MT, respectively.”

The Health Minister further said, “Delhi Government is taking complete precaution regarding Corona in the light of the coming festival season. The government has already put the Graded Response System in the public domain. Presently, only 3 to 5 Corona infected people are being tested positive out of 10 thousand tests. The graded response system will begin when the Capital will report 5 positive cases against 1 thousand tests done daily.”

Earlier 5 Plants were inaugurated by the Chief Minister in May 2021 and 22 Plants were inaugurated by him in June. In total, 73 PSA Plants with 77.80 MT are being installed in Delhi Government hospitals. 10 Plants of 22.50 MT have been commissioned in hospitals of the Central Government under PM CARES Fund and will be inaugurated on 7th October, 2021. 2 Bottling Plants with a capacity of 12.5 MT were also inaugurated by the Health Minister today at Siraspur. These 2 Bottling Plants have the capacity to refill 1,400 jumbo cylinders in 24 hours.

The Kejriwal government had approved the Medical Oxygen Production Promotion Policy – 2021 in early August to make Delhi self-reliant in terms of oxygen. The Kejriwal government is trying its best to make Delhi self-sufficient in the production of medical oxygen to deal with any medical emergency in future. The Medical Oxygen Production Promotion Policy-2021 provides several incentives to the private sector as well in the field of setting up oxygen production plants, storage facilities and oxygen tankers. This policy will help in improving the availability of oxygen in Delhi, which became a major constraint in handling the previous COVID-19 waves. This policy has been made with the objective of making Delhi self-sufficient in the production of medical oxygen to deal with the situation of any medical emergency in future.

Objectives of the Medical Oxygen Production Promotion Policy 2021

1- To make Delhi self-reliant in terms of Medical Oxygen production and supply. This will be done by increasing the production of oxygen in Delhi through setting up either new manufacturing enterprises or expanding the production capacity of existing units for uninterrupted oxygen supply to hospitals or nursing homes during the health crisis caused by COVID-19 or otherwise.
2- To facilitate storage and transportation of Medical Oxygen in Delhi

Policy Targets

The objective of the Medical Oxygen Production Promotion Policy of Delhi 2021 is to ensure time-bound fulfilment of the following targets:
1 – Setting up of Liquid Oxygen (LOX) manufacturing facilities of minimum 50 MT capacity up to a total of 100 MT.
2 – Setting up of non-captive oxygen generation plants (PSA/Air Separation Unit technology) of minimum 10 MT and maximum 50 MT capacity up to a total of 100 MT.
3 – Setting up of Captive oxygen generation plants (PSA/Air Separation Unit technology) of minimum 500 LPM capacity at hospitals and nursing homes to cater to their peak demand for medical oxygen up to a total capacity of 200 MT.
4 – Setting up of Cryogenic tankers of minimum carrying capacity of 10 MT for the exclusive purpose of ferrying Liquid Medical Oxygen up to a total capacity of 500 MT.
5 – Setting up LMO storage tanks of minimum 10 MT capacity up to a total capacity of 1000 MT.

List of plants inaugurated today

1) 1 PSA plant of 0.9 metric tons at the Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia

2) 1 PSA Plant of 1.80 MT at Dr Hedgewar Hospital inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia

3) 3 PSA plants with a total capacity of 5.31 MT at LNJP Hospital inaugurated by Health Minister Satyendar Jain

4) 1 PSA plant at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital with a total capacity of 1.80 MT  inaugurated by Health Minister Satyendar Jain

5) 2 PSA plants with a total capacity of 3.60 MT at Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital inaugurated by Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel

6) 1 PSA Plant of 1.80 MT at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital inaugurated by Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam

7) 1 PSA plant of 0.90 MT at Rao Tula Ram Hospital inaugurated by Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot

8) 1 PSA plant of 0.90 MT at Burari Hospital inaugurated by MLA Sanjeev Jha

9) 1 PSA plant of 1.26 metric tonnes at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital inaugurated by MLA Rajkumari Dhillon

10) 1 PSA plant of 0.90 metric tonnes was inaugurated by MLA Mohinder Goyal at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital

11) 3 PSA plants with a total capacity of 1.26 metric tons at Satyavati Raja Harish Chandra Hospital inaugurated by MLA Sharad Chauhan

12) 1 PSA plant of 1.08 metric tonnes at Ambedkar Nagar Hospital inaugurated by MLA Ajay Dutt

13) 1 PSA plant of 0.90 metric tonnes was inaugurated by MLA Gulab Singh at Shri Dada Dev Maternal and Child Hospital

14) 3 PSA plants with a total capacity of 2.70 MT at Janakpuri Super Specialty Hospital inaugurated by MLA Rajesh Rishi

15) 1 PSA plant with a total capacity of 1.80 metric tonnes was inaugurated by MLA Shiv Charan Goel at Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital

16) 1 PSA plant with a total capacity of 1.08 metric tonnes was inaugurated by MLA Jai Bhagwan at Maharishi Valmiki Hospital

17) 1 PSA Plant of 0.27 MT capacity at Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital was inaugurated by MLA Parlad Singh Sawhney

18) 3 PSA Plants at Indira Gandhi Hospital with a total capacity of 2.70 MT inaugurated by MLA Vinay Mishra

19) 2 Cryogenic Refilling Plants of the total capacity of 12 MT at Siraspur Hospital inaugurated by Health Minister Satyendar Jain

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