To cater to the requirement of oxygen supply for multiple patients during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, personnel from the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, have designed an innovative ‘Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold (MOM)’ using a 6-way radial header fitted to a single cylinder. This innovation would enable one oxygen bottle to cater to the needs of six patients concurrently thus enabling critical care management to a larger number of COVID patients with the existing limited resources. The entire set up was made operational by the manufacturing of a Fine Adjustment Reducer and specific adapters of requisite dimensions for connecting the oxygen cylinder and the portable MOM.
A typical oxygen providing facility at hospitals comprises an oxygen cylinder feeding only one patient through a Ventimask arrangement. During the ongoing pandemic, ventilator support will be required for about 5-8% of patients with symptoms whereas a large number would require oxygen support. The existing facilities are not adequate to cater for such large requirements. A need was therefore felt to design a suitable portable arrangement that could provide oxygen through masks to a number of needy patients using a single cylinder during emergencies which is the need of the hour.
The preliminary trials of the entire assembly was conducted at MI Room at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam. This was followed by rapid trials at the Naval Hospital INHS Kalyani, wherein the portable MOM was successfully set up within 30 minutes. After successful trials, Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, has commenced manufacture of 10 portable MOMs with two 6-way radial headers catering for 120 patients at makeshift locations to cater to the COVID-19 pandemic.
