PM Modi to officials: Ensure oxygen plants are functional at earliest, train staff for maintenance | India News
He was briefed about the progress on installation of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen plants. Over 1500 such plants will be installed in across the country. Once completed, they would support more than 4 lakh oxygenated beds, the Prime Minister was informed. Every district is to get PSA Oxygen plants with contribution from PM CARES.
PM Modi insisted on fast completion of these plants and close coordination with state governments in the matter.
He also enquired about availability of trained personnel for operation and maintenance of Oxygen plants. He stressed on deploying advanced technology for tracking performance and functioning of these plants.
He was told that 8000 people will be trained across the country on a module prepared by experts. A pilot project was also being undertaken with IoT technology for monitoring the performance of Oxygen plants.
Several parts of the country saw an acute shortage of Oxygen during the peak of the second Covid wave. Oxygen for industrial use had to be diverted to meet the requirement in hospitals. Railways ran several Oxygen Express trains to meet the requirement in various regions.
The thrust now is to ramp up oxygen production and supply infrastructure for a possible third wave of Covid-19 and set up facilities near large cities such as Delhi and Mumbai as well as creating buffer stocks to meet the requirements in case of a spike. Discussions are underway to create storage hubs in the states so that the requirement can be met to a large extent.
