The Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command (ENC) offered technical assistance to the Andhra Pradesh government for maintaining oxygen plants in its hospitals across the State and to dispatch four teams for that purpose to the districts, by air if the situation warrants.
The ENC teams, according to an official release, will lend their expertise in preventing oxygen leakages and conducting emergency repairs and render other support services as oxygen became increasingly scarce and hospitals struggled to grapple with the technicalities involved in its supply.
The ENC also agreed to ferry 25 cryogenic oxygen containers being sourced from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
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Deliberations in this regard were held by State Covid control room nodal officer M.T. Krishna Babu with top officials of ENC in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
The ENC agreed to provide vehicles for transporting liquid oxygen containers by road and to provide oxygen concentrators, 200 D-type cylinders and other equipment needed by hospitals.
Plus, the ENC consented to reserve 60 beds at its hospital in Visakhapatnam for treating Covid patients and to provide 10 oxygen beds there.
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During separate discussions, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) CMD told Mr. Krishna Babu that the existing oxygen plant, which consists of two units, was producing 100 Metric Tonnes (MT) against their combined full capacity of 850 MT due to certain issues to be sorted out with the contract agency.
It is hoped that the oxygen plant will become fully operational in six months.
The VSP agreed to set up an oxygen-equipped 50-bed Covid care centre at Gurajada Kalakshetram in the port city. In addition to this, the VSP is arranging 150 beds by May 15 and a total 600 beds by the end of June.