NEW DELHI,  May 2: In line with his direction of exploring innovative ways to ramp up supply and availability of Oxygen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a meeting to review the usage of gaseous oxygen.

Prime Minister Modi tweeted, “Took stock of the usage of gaseous oxygen produced by industry, for medical purposes, with adjacent temporary hospitals.”

Many industries like steel plants, refineries with petrochemical units, industries using rich combustion process and power plants have oxygen plants which produce gaseous oxygen which can be tapped for medical use.

The strategy being used is to identify industrial units which produce gaseous oxygen of requisite purity, shortlist those which are closer to cities or dense areas or demand centres and establish temporary Covid care centres with oxygenated beds near that source.

A pilot for five such facilities had already been initiated and there is good progress on this. This is being accomplished through Public Sector Units or private industries operating the plant and co-ordination of centre and state governments.

It is expected that around 10,000 oxygenated beds can be made available in a short period of time by making temporary hospitals near such plants.

State governments are being encouraged to set up more such facilities with oxygenated beds to deal with the pandemic.

The Prime Minister also reviewed progress on setting up of PSA plants.

When the Prime Minister was informed that around 1,500 PSA plants are in the process of being set up through contribution of PM CARES, PSUs and others, Modi directed officials to ensure speedy completion of these plants.

Principal Secretary to PM, Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary Road Transport and Highways and other senior officials participated in the meeting.

The meeting was held at a time when there is hue and cry across the country due to shortage of oxygen– a life-saving gas.