Oxygen plants set up during pandemic lying unused and defunct

During the committee proceedings, MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar said the civic body will look at the mechanism to utilise these facilities. He added that some oxygen concentrators had been put to use in some hospitals.

New Delhi: The standing committee members have flagged the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) medical oxygen plants set up by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) during the Covid-19 pandemic that are lying defunct and gathering dust, demanding that the facilities be revived and linked to charitable organisations.

Members demanded that the facilities be revived and linked to charitable organisations (HT)

During the committee proceedings, MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar said the civic body will look at the mechanism to utilise these facilities. He added that some oxygen concentrators had been put to use in some hospitals.

Committee member Rajpal Singh said that ₹4-5 crore were spent on setting up medical oxygen plants at various sites across healthcare facilities run by the erstwhile South, North and East Corporations.

“Two such plants were set up in the Central zone alone — one at Purnima Sethi Multi Specialty Hospital in Kalkaji and another at Tilak Nagar Colony hospital. Public money worth crores has been used to set up these facilities and they are not even operational. They are gathering dust. We should find ways to re-operationalise them and provide free of cost oxygen to institutes that need it,” he added.

During a spot check on Thursday, HT found that a unit located at the rear end of the Poornima Sethi hospital had been locked for months. A board stating “PSA Plant — Medical Grade Oxygen, PSMS hospital, Kalkaji” hung over the blue tin shed structure. The facility was locked and oxygen cylinders had cobwebs on them.

Officials and security personnel at the hospital said they had not seen the plant running. “Only the dialysis facility located next to the plant is operational. We have never seen the plant being operated,” official said, requesting not to be named.

A PSA oxygen plant employs a technology that absorbs nitrogen from ambient air to concentrate oxygen for supply to hospitals or the industry. The plant comes in varying capacities.

Civic officials said that these plants were set up in anticipation of Covid-19 surge during 2021 and 2022, adding that plans will be made to keep them running.

Members suggested that if the requirement in municipal health facilities is not enough, free of cost medical oxygen should be provided to charitable institutes and economically weaker sections.