Takinga big leap in the augmentation of medical oxygen ahead of the much-anticipatedthird Covid wave, the Punjab Government will install 75 more pressure swingadsorption (PSA) plants in the state by July end.
Announcingthis, here on Sunday, the Chief Secretary Ms Vini Mahajan said the departmentsconcerned have been asked to complete the installation of these plants by thenext month end while ensuring pressure and purity of the life-saving gas.
Withthis, the demand of medical oxygen supplies will be met at all the healthcareinstitutes in the state.
Chairinga high-level meeting to review the installation of PSA plants and allied works,here, the Chief Secretary instructed the officials concerned that all pre-activitiesfor the installation of plants must be completed by July 15 so that work ofinstallation and commissioning be completed by July 25.
Shealso asked to appoint nodal officers to oversee each sub-work, including sitepreparation, DG set installation and gas pipeline network.
TheChief Secretary also desired to create a WhatsApp group for each site withDeputy Commissioners, all nodal officers, executing agencies and hospitalsuperintendents concerned as its members for seamless operations and regularupdates on the work progress.
ThePrincipal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Jaspreet Talwar, who heads theState Oxygen Management Group, apprised the Chief Secretary that Punjab has itsown two PSA plants, having capacity of 1,400-litres per minute (LPM), inLudhiana and Jalandhar. While 42 plants have been allotted by the Centre mainlyfor the medical colleges and the district hospitals in the state, another 33plants have been arranged by various agencies/ private bodies for the state.This will add to the state capacity of generating medical oxygen by more than50 metric tonnes (MT) per day, she added.
Shefurther informed that a mobile app for updating the work status and photos onthe sites would be launched soon and the nodal officers will be trained andregistered there.
Itwas informed in the meeting that five PSA plants have already been installedand were under trial phase. The site preparation for another five plants wascompleted and it has been conveyed to the DRDO for moving these plants to theirdestinations in Barnala, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Kapurthala and Tarn Taran.
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TheNHAI, the executing arm for site preparation of Centre-funded plants, was askedto complete the works allotted to it by July 10. The NHAI regional officer RPSingh assured that all work related to site preparation for Central plants willbe completed by the given date.
TheACS-cum-CMD PSPCL A. Venu Prasad, Principal Secretaries DK Tiwari (MedicalEducation and Research), Hussan Lal (Health and Family Welfare), Vikas Pratap(PWD), Additional Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Amit Talwar and all the Deputy Commissioners also attendedthe meeting.