Next three months crucial for fight against Covid-19: Chandigarh health secretary

All private hospitals with 50 or more beds have already been asked to install a PSA oxygen plant. A meeting in this regard was chaired by Garg on September 10. Subsequently, the matter was discussed with the chief architect of the UT administration and it was decided that private hospitals will be allowed to install PSA plants on the roof tops of their buildings.

Private hospitals have also been asked to stock empty oxygen cylinders and set up pipelines and other equipment needed for effective supply of oxygen to patients admitted at their centres.

“There should not be any leakage and the staff should be trained in rational use of oxygen. Training for optimum utilisation of oxygen was conducted during the second wave and the same can again be conducted within a short notice of three days. Equipment like flow meters should be available in sufficient quantity to take care of any emergency,” the order said.

Garg said that an oxygen audit team may be formed to check for leakages and other discrepancies in the oxygen flow system at the hospitals on a weekly basis.

It was also suggested that as a back-up plan and to reduce dependency on oxygen cylinders, there was a need to have as many oxygen concentrators (10 litre capacity) as the number of beds at a private hospital.

The order mentioned that since oxygen is a highly-combustible agent, there was also a need to keep fire-extinguishers and fire-hydrants in sufficient numbers. The order also asked the private hospitals to get a fire audit done by the fire department within the next 15 days.