Oxygen audit panels set up in all hospitals

To record daily stock of oxygen

Oxygen audit committees will be formed in all hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram district to ensure smooth oxygen supply for COVID-19 treatment.

District Collector Navjot Khosa on Thursday issued orders that the committees be set up urgently in all government and private hospitals in the district.

An audit committee will include the additional medical superintendent and heads of the anaesthesia and respiratory medicine wings, head of the internal medicine wing in case there is no separate respiratory medicine wing, and the nursing superintendent.

They will maintain a record of daily stock of oxygen in hospitals, its use, and leftover stock.

An oxygen monitoring team shall be set up in all shifts in hospitals as part of the committee. It should include a nurse and an operation theatre technician. They will regularly monitor the places where oxygen is given to patients and inspect the gas pipeline, gas cylinders, and gas outlets. The team will also be responsible for ensuring that the oxygen is shut down after mass use. The audit committee will register details about the availability and use of oxygen in a hospital in the oxygen module on the COVID-19 Jagratha portal. Strict action will be taken if there are any lapses in recording the details, Ms. Khosa warned.