Jagan unveils 144 O2 plants to tackle third wave threat

Vijayawada: In a bid to face the challenge posed by the outbreak of the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday virtually declared as many as 144 Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) oxygen plants set up at various government hospitals at a cost of Rs 426 crore.

Dedicating the plants to the nation from his camp office at Tadepalli, he said that the government has been taking all measures in containing coronavirus ahead of the third wave and as part of it, 144 oxygen plants have been set up in the government hospitals across the State.

Besides establishing the oxygen plants, the government is also providing a 30 per cent subsidy to private hospitals with over 100-bed capacity to set up an oxygen plant. He said that steps were taken to achieve self-sufficiency of oxygen, as the entire country faced severe shortage of oxygen during the second wave.

Reddy mentioned that the government had purchased 25 oxygen cryogenic ISO containers for transporting Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO), along with 74 LMO tanks. Oxygen pipelines were set up to 24,419 beds in various government hospitals at a cost of Rs 90 crore and pediatric care units with 20 beds have been established at community health centers.

Recalling the initial times of Covid-19, he said that 20 state-of-the-art VRDL labs have been opened in the State, increasing the testing capacity from zero to one lakh tests per day. With the possible threat from Omicron, a genome sequencing lab has been opened at Vijayawada, which is second in the country next to Kerala.

In regard to vaccination, he said that 80 per cent of the people above 18 years have received two doses of vaccine and 82 per cent of teens between 15-18 years were administered with a single dose of vaccine. He said that Andhra Pradesh has been standing as a role model to other States in terms of effective Covid containment, where over 33 door-to-door surveys were conducted. Right from setting up YSR Health Clinics at village level, to bringing family doctor concept, the government is focusing on the development of the medical and health sector through Nadu-Nedu, construction of 16 new medical and nursing colleges, along with the recruitment of 39,000 staff. During the event, the Chief Minister inspected 20 types of advanced medical equipment brought by the Medical and Health Department and showcased at the camp office here, and enquired about their functioning.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, Municipal and Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Medical and Health Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, Finance Secretary N Gulzar, Covid Task Force Committee Chairman MT Krishna Babu, Health and Family Welfare Commissioner K Bhaskar, APMSIDC VC and MD D Muralidhar Reddy, APVVP Commissioner V Vinod Kumar, APMSIDC Chairman B. Chandrasekhar Reddy, Director of Medical Health (Drugs) Ravi Shankar and other senior officials were present.