The government-run Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital (RMMCH) in Chidambaram has installed an oxygen storage tank to meet the rise in demand for medical oxygen for treating COVID-19 patients.
Installed at a cost of ₹30 lakh, the six kilolitre storage tank will store liquid oxygen, which can be vaporized and used to treat patients requiring oxygen support.
A senior official said that hospitals in the district have been facing a medical oxygen supply crunch. The storage tank at RMMCH was commissioned since the oxygen demand could not be adequately met through cylinders. “We have now placed a request to the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation for supplying oxygen to the facility. Work on laying pipelines is underway and the storage facility is expected to be functional in a week’s time,” he said.
Currently, there are 170 beds in RMMCH of which 25 are oxygenated beds. Another 200 beds are currently being set up with oxygen, the official added.
