The closure of several liquid oxygen manufacturing plants in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, following water and power shortage issues, is affecting hospitals in the State, where surgeries are being postponed because of the shortage in the supply of liquid oxygen.
“Almost the entire hospital network in the State seems to have been affected because, apparently, there is not a single liquid oxygen manufacturing plant in Kerala. Hospitals here are sourcing liquid oxygen from local suppliers, who bring in liquid oxygen in bulk from either Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. They then supply it either directly to the storage plants in hospitals or in hospitals which do not have storage plants, oxygen is supplied in high-pressure cylinders,” senior administrator in a major hospital in the city said.
Prominent public sector hospitals like government medical colleges and the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology have all been affected by this sudden shortage in the supply of liquid oxygen.
Last week, if Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College was affected, an official statement from the SCTIMST said that it had to “scale down surgeries on 29th and 30th” because of the oxygen supply issues.
Concentrator unit
“The SCTIMST does not have a liquid oxygen storage plant and hence we procure oxygen in cylinders. We require about 160 cylinders daily and depend on two local suppliers who in turn depend on Tamil Nadu for their bulk supply. One supplier has not been able to supply because of the closure of liquid oxygen manufacturing plants in Tamil Nadu. The other supplier has an oxygen concentrator unit (which sources oxygen from atmospheric air). But the unit can only produce about 300-400 cylinders at a time, of which we are being given 100. Today, we have identified another supplier too, so things have eased up,” a senior official said.
3 or 4 suppliers
He said that there were only three or four suppliers of liquid oxygen in the capital, who supplied to most hospitals.
Till the power and water shortage situation eases in Tamil Nadu, there could be frequent issues in the supply of liquid oxygen to hospitals here, he felt.
