SHILLONG, May 5: NEIGRIHMS Director, Dr P Bhattacharya on Wednesday informed that the institute has a 10,000 litre liquid oxygen tank that will keep the super-specialty hospital supplied with oxygen optimally.
“We have 10,000 litres of liquid oxygen and each litre can produced nearly 868 litre of medical oxygen,” Dr Bhattacharya said.
He informed that in addition to the oxygen tank, the institute also has an oxygen concentrator that can fill up 25 D Types cylinders or nearly 45 B Type cylinders.
Informing that the stock of liquid oxygen would last for almost a month with normal use, he said, “If there is a shortage we do not have to place any order as when the level goes down to around 3,000 litres, the manufacturers, the dealer and our bio-medical engineer are automatically alerted. A second alarm is sounded when it goes down to 1,500 litres”.
Elaborating on the arrangements, he said that after the alarm, the designated company has to refill the tank within three to four days. For safety purpose, the company is alerted 10 days before the stock exhausts and once again after five days if the tank is not filled up for any reason.
To a query on how long the institute can sustain with 10,000 litres of liquid oxygen, he said, “Usually we consume 0.4 litres of liquid oxygen per day but it might go up to 1.6. It will last us 20 days even with maximum usage.”
Enquired if there is any chance that the institute can supply oxygen to other hospitals, Dr Bhattacharya said, “We cannot supply to anyone as we are not a factory. We get liquid oxygen from suppliers.”
Asked why the institute has not increased its capacity from 10,000 litres, the Director said, “If I am not using the oxygen and I have a full tank, the pressure will build up and some oxygen has to be released into the atmosphere”.
Lambor procures oxygen cylinders
In view of the shortage of medical oxygen, Nongkrem MLA Lambor Malngiang on Wednesday informed that he has made arrangements for medical oxygen cylinders for patients in his constituency.
Urging the people of his constituency not to panic, he informed that he has placed an order for 100 oxygen cylinders, adding that there are trained ANMs who are taking care of critical patients in his constituency.
Stating that the majority of the hospitals are running out beds, he said that 30 out of 40 beds in Shillong Civil Hospital have already been occupied while there are no beds available in Nazareth Hospital.
He said that the oxygen cylinders have been procured from Byrnihat at Rs 7,500 each.
“We will be opening COVID centres in the constituency to address the problem of shortage of beds,” the MLA added.
