These plants have varying capacities to generate oxygen and will cater to hospitals with 200 to 500 beds

Government-controlled Oil and Gas companies are setting up 100 medical oxygen plants across India to help meet the need of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital for treatment.

All of these are Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Medical Oxygen Generation Plants; they are being installed in public health facilities across the country.

These PSA plants will come in varying capacities to generate oxygen, catering to hospitals with 200 to 500 beds, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Thursday.

Hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi will be covered under the initiative.

The entire expenditure for these plants will be borne by the companies from their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund, the ministry said. These companies are under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The PSA medical oxygen generation plants being set up employ technology provided by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), absorbing nitrogen from ambient air to concentrate oxygen.

The oxygen thus generated will be supplied straight to patients admitted in the hospital.

Orders have been placed with the Indian vendors for these plants, and these will start becoming operational from this month itself, and by July, all such plants will come up, the ministry said.