COVID-19: Civic hospitals in Mumbai to get 16 oxygen plants

The oxygen generating plant set up at Kasturba Hospital two years ago

The city will soon have 16 oxygen plants at 12 civic-run hospitals, which will provide a total of 43 metric tonnes of oxygen per day. The move comes after Mumbai witnessed a huge shortage of oxygen for COVID-19 patients.

The project will cost the BMC around Rs 90 crore, and sources said that it will be completed within a month after the tendering process is completed.

The city is currently receiving 235 metric tonnes of oxygen. The need for oxygen has increased due to lung infections in COVID-19 infected patients. The corporation shifted 168 patients overnight on April 17, due to a lack of oxygen supply.

In light of these developments, the BMC has decided to set up 16 oxygen production plants in 12 hospitals as a permanent measure to ensure continuous oxygen availability. These plants will produce oxygen from the atmosphere. A total of 43 metric tonnes (33,000 cubic metres) of oxygen will be generated per day, which will also help in reducing the dependence of the corporation on oxygen supply.

Tenders have already been invited for this. The last date of submission of tenders is April 26 and the BMC will complete the technical process by April 27. The project will be awarded after permission of the various committees in the corporation. "The plants will be started within a month of awarding the contract," said an officer with the BMC. He added that the rate of oxygen produced from this plant per cubic metre is equal to the rate of liquid oxygen. These projects can be operated for a minimum of 15 years, and a maximum of 30 years. The cost of these projects is expected to be around Rs 90 crore.

The BMC has already set up an oxygen generating plant with a capacity of about 500 cubic metres (1,000 cubic metre is equal to approximately 1.3 metric tonnes of oxygen) per day at Kasturba Hospital two years ago. The HBT Trauma Hospital in Jogeshwari also has a plant with a capacity of producing 1,740 cubic metres per day.

Both these projects are based on the technique of generating oxygen from atmospheric air, where the plant absorbs air using the pressure-swing adsorption technique.

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Volume (in metric tonnes) of oxygen 16 plants will generate