Oxygen supplies in Rayalaseema districts are adequate and the infrastructure put in place during the height of the pandemic last year has put the region in a comfortable position, said Nodal oxygen officer and deputy director of drug control, Pullagarula Ramesh Reddy The Hindu.
“The Anantapur District had a maximum daily requirement of 23 tons of oxygen in all forms – either in large bottles or to refill large storage tanks, which were installed at GGH, Super Specialty Hospital, Cancer Hospital and the government hospitals in Hindupur, Guntakal and Kadiri. – During the peak of the pandemic in September 2020 with 3,300 hospital beds occupied, “he said.
The central government allocated 4,500 new oxygen cylinders to the state last year, of which the Anantapur district removed 300. The district now has 1,000 cylinders (7.1 cubic meters each) in addition to the 13 kl liquid oxygen tank installed on the GGH site, another 10 kl tank in the new super specialty block and a 6 kl tank in the Cancer Care Center in the adjacent compound.
In the private sector, RDT Bathalapalli has a liquid oxygen storage tank of 5 kl and the KIMS Saveera has an air separation plant for oxygen production.
In order to increase the availability of oxygen support beds in Andhra Pradesh, the center has provided 20 tons of oxygen from the JSW steel mill in Ballari, 28 tons from Linde Gas in Ballari, 10 tons from the air water and another 10 tons from Barukha in Bengaluru. While the first two plants supply Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa with liquid oxygen via tankers, Air Water and Barukha supply hospitals in Tirupati and Chittoor.
Four liquid oxygen tankers from the contracted agency Varasi Oxygen supply hospitals in Anantapur, while Apex Oxygen with a capacity of 20 kl and Kumar Oxygen with an oxygen refill system of 34 KL in Anantapur serve the needs of other private hospitals. The Yerraguntla-based agency Varasi Oxygen also supplies liquid oxygen to Kadapa. The RS gas with a large oxygen cylinder that Sunit fills in Kurnool meets the needs of the district.