Oxygen crisis: 49 AP hospitals to have PSA plants in three months

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government has decided to set up Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants in 49 district and area hospitals within three months. Estimated to cost Rs 309 crore, the plants will be built according to the bed capacity in respective hospitals.

Chief Secretary of medical health department Anil Kumar Singhal said administrative approval has been given to set up oxygen plants in 49 hospitals in the state. "Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants will be built according to the capacity of the beds in the respective hospitals.

It has been decided to buy PSA plants worth Rs 180 crore. Around Rs 25 crore will be spent on civil works, Rs 50 crore on 10,000 additional oxygen pipelines and 50 cryogenic tankers. We have also placed orders for the purchase of 25 tankers at a cost of Rs 46 crore. The government has sanctioned Rs 309 crore for the project," he said

Singhal said the central government allocated 480 tonnes of oxygen to the state on Thursday. "On Friday, the Centre allocated 500 tonnes. We have supplied 470 tonnes of oxygen so far," he said.

He said there is no shortage of Remdesivir injections in private hospitals. "Around 13,150 injections were delivered in the past 24 hours. There are 22,105 vials available in government hospitals," he said.

Singhal said the state government would bear the medical expenses of Covid victims who are treated in the network hospitals under the Arogyasree scheme. He said the government would directly pay the hospital owners.

Singal said so far, 73,49,960 doses of the vaccine have been received from the central government. Of these, 71.55,000 doses were administered. Around 53,58,712 people were administered the first dose and 17,96,000 were given both doses.

As of Friday, there are still two lakh doses available. The central government has allotted nine lakh doses for people above 45 years. Of these, 6,90,000 Covishield doses have been administered. Another 1,08,000 doses are expected to arrive by May 15.

Of the total requirement, 12,93,000 need a second dose by May 15. Another 8,23,000 people are yet to be given. As far as procurement is concerned, the state government has sanctioned Rs 45 crore for the purchase of 9,91,000 doses of Covishield and 3,43,000 doses of Covaxin. Serum Institute of India has said that the company was ready to supply an additional three and a half lakh doses in the third week of May.

Of the 3,43,000 Covaxin doses, 1,43,000 have already been received. Another 2 lakh doses have not yet been supplies.