Patan : Oxygen plant virtually inaugurated by CM in Patan today. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on the occasion of virtually inaugurating the oxygen plant developed by Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University in Patan said that considering the possibility of third wave of Covid-19, the state government intends to set up systems to generate 1800 metric tonnes of oxygen facility in near future. In such an oxygen plant, oxygen will be obtained from the air and supplied, as part of which, we have inaugurated one such plant today, he said. The Chief Minister said that Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University has developed this oxygen refilling plant in just 15 days at a cost of Rs 60 lakh, through which oxygen requirement of Patan city-district and surrounding talukas during Covid-19 epidemic will be met. Not only that, this plant with a capacity of 13 kilolitres of liquid oxygen can fill 40 cylinders at a time. CM Vijay Rupani said that during the second wave of Coronavirus, as cases rose very quickly all across the country, the requirement of oxygen beds and oxygen was also very high. The central government then transported oxygen from one place to another by Air Force planes as well as by rail. Thus, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we were able to get out of this problem quickly. In this context, he said that the normal routine consumption of oxygen in Gujarat was 250 tons, which increased to 1200 tons of oxygen in the second wave. At that time, the central government provided all kinds of assistance to Gujarat such as providing oxygen, ventilators, injections, and ensured adequate oxygen supply during the second wave.
In the second wave of Coronavirus, patients passed away due to lack of oxygen in many states but not a single patient died due to lack of oxygen in Gujarat, the Chief Minister added. He further said that in the second wave of Coronavirus, adequate oxygen supply was provided to all the hospitals in the state. Today, oxygen consumption has dropped from 1,200 tonnes to 300 tonnes, which implies that we are out of a big problem now. CM Rupani also said that during Cyclone Tauktae, the state government had also planned in advance to ensure that the hospitals in affected areas did not have to face any shortage of oxygen and patients could continue receiving treatment without any problems. Also, the state government had stockpiled oxygen in advance so that oxygen supply would not be disrupted in the areas where the cyclone hit the most. Thus, Gujarat government ensured that not a single hospital in Saurashtra was short of oxygen during the cyclone. Vijay Rupani said that Gujarat is fully equipped against the possible third wave of Coronavirus. The state government has planned to ensure that oxygen is widely produced from the air by PSA so that we do not have to rely on liquid oxygen. Thus, the state government is preparing to meet the oxygen requirement in Gujarat by producing oxygen through PSA plant.
