Medical oxygen

A medical oxygen plant was gifted to Nepal by India on August 26, in an effort to help the Himalayan nation fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The oxygen plant was installed at the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. The plant has a total capacity of 960 Litres Per Minute (LPM). It may therefore serve 200 patients at once. They added that India will continue to support Nepal. 

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has emerged as the largest medical-grade liquid oxygen producer in the country. RIL’s single manufacturing unit in Jamnagar and other facilities possess daily production capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes (MT) daily i.e., 11% of the total oxygen supply in the country. While the oxygen is being provided for free to several states, RIL has supplied 55,000 MT of oxygen across the country since March 2020.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on April 28 said that the DRDO will install 500 medical oxygen plants from the money allocated out of the PM Cares Fund. To be installed within next three months, the DRDO will use its indigenous technology designed for Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’ to overcome the COVID-led oxygen crisis. The DRDO’s medical oxygen plants are designed to generate 1,000 litres of oxygen per minute.