RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Dec.27: Despite being in the heart of Jharkhand’s capital and under the supportive supervision of several officers of the health department, the work of taking the oxygen to beds could not be completed at Sadar Hospital Ranchi, though it was expected to be completed by December 26.
A short visit to the plant at Sadar Hospital premises suggested that work of laying pipe that will help take the oxygen to bed was being done and workers were busy giving finishing touches to it. A section of electricians was worried about power connectivity problems to the plant which will require heavy power at the time of starting.
“The plant having the capacity to deliver 1600 litres of oxygen every minute is expected to be inaugurated by the chief minister on December 29. We want to do testing today but there is some problem with power connectivity,” an electrician was found informing a senior officer who was directing him to have patience.
NRHM mission director Ramesh Gholap had inspected the hospital to take stock of its preparedness to face new variant Covid-19, Omicron, on December 11. He gave the necessary direction to complete the plant. He also told a section of media persons that 13 of the 16 oxygen plants, which could not be made operational at the government hospitals, will be operational by December 26.
When contacted Gholap to know the reason behind the delay, he suggested contacting drug director Ritu Sahay, who did not take calls three times between 12.13p.m. to 3.35p.m. and also did not respond to WhatsApp messages in this matter.
As many as 99 gas plants are present in the state out of which 80 are functional. Out of the 19 non-functional ones, 16 are at government hospitals. The government had planned to make 13 of 16 government hospital plants functional by December 26 while targeting to make the remaining three by the end of the third week of January. After the first deadline missed, a question mark arose on the efficient implementation of planning.
The plant at the Sadar Hospital is being installed with the help of a donation given by Google under ‘Give India’ campaign for the installation of Oxygen plants in India. India purchased necessary equipment for plants from Tata and PATH, a global health organization, and is doing the work of installation after the selection of appropriate sites.
