‘Rayalaseema districts have sufficient oxygen supplies’

Infra set up last year has put the region in comfortable place: official

The oxygen supply in Rayalaseema districts is sufficient and the infrastructure set up during the peak of the pandemic last year has put the region in a comfortable position, Nodal Officer for oxygen and Assistant Director of Drug Control Authority Pullagarula Ramesh Reddy told

The Hindu .

“Anantapur district had a maximum per-day requirement of 23 tonnes of oxygen in all forms--either in bulk cylinders or for refilling large storage tanks installed at the GGH, Super Speciality Hospital, Cancer Hospital and Hindupur, Guntakal and Kadiri government hospitals--during the peak of the pandemic in September 2020 with 3,300 hospital beds occupied,” he pointed out.

The Central government had allocated 4,500 new oxygen cylinders to the State last year with Anantapur district getting 300 out of them. The district now has 1,000 cylinders (7.1 cubic meters each) in addition to the 13 kl liquid oxygen tank installed on the GGH premises, another 10 kl tank in the new super-speciality block and a 6 kl tank at the Cancer Care Centre in the adjoining compound.

In the private sector, RDT Bathalapalli has a liquid oxygen storage tank of 5 kl and the KIMS Saveera has an air separation unit for oxygen production.

To augment the availability of oxygen-supporting beds in Andhra Pradesh, the Centre has allocated 20 MT of oxygen from JSW Steel Plant at Ballari, 28 MT from Linde Gas at Ballari, 10 MT from the Air Water, and another 10 MT from Barukha in Bengaluru. While the first two plants supply liquid oxygen through tankers to Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa, the Air Water and Barukha are supplying to hospitals in Tirupati and Chittoor.

Four liquid oxygen tanker carriers of the contracted agency, Varasi Oxygen, are supplying to Anantapur hospitals, while Apex Oxygen with 20 kl capacity and Kumar Oxygen with 34 KL capacity oxygen refilling units in Anantapur is catering to the needs of other private hospitals. The Yerraguntla-based agency Varasi Oxygen supplies liquid oxygen to Kadapa also. The RS Gas with a bulk oxygen cylinder filling sunit at Kurnool caters to the needs of the district.