KGH Forced To Buy Liquid Oxygen As Only Four Of Six Plants Function
During the first and second waves of COVID-19, oxygen shortages led to many casualties
Visakhapatnam:With only four of its six oxygen plants functional, King George Hospital (KGH) is being forced to purchase liquid oxygen from private companies to meet patient demand.
Deputy civil surgeon and resident medical officer G. Mehar Kumar informed the Deccan Chronicle that KGH’s six oxygen plants were established to extract oxygen from the air. However, two remain non-functional—one is under repair, and the other is situated too close to a transformer, making its operation unviable. Compounding the problem, the oxygen produced by the four working plants reportedly does not meet the hospital’s quality standards, adding to the challenge of ensuring a steady and reliable supply, he stated.
During the first and second waves of COVID-19, oxygen shortages led to many casualties. To avoid a repeat of that crisis, both the Central and state governments had installed oxygen plants across hospitals, including six units at KGH. Each unit, costing ` 87 lakh and capable of generating 1,000 litres of oxygen per minute, brought the total investment to ` 5.22 crore.
Despite this, hospital authorities have failed to prioritise the maintenance of the facilities and relied on external sources.
Inpatients at KGH require a continuous supply of oxygen, and the hospital is spending over `30 lakh per month to source oxygen from private suppliers. Experts say this cost could be significantly reduced if all six plants were repaired and made fully operational.
KGH officials argue that immediate patient needs demand liquid oxygen, which they say is of higher purity and more cost-effective than generating oxygen from ambient air. However, they have not explained how, during the COVID-19 crisis, the same air-based systems were used to treat patients, despite similar purity concerns.
Experts insist that while some critical patients may indeed require liquid oxygen, relying solely on private supply is unjustifiable when the hospital has the infrastructure to generate oxygen in-house.