Cylinders out,it’s piped oxygen at Sassoon

While the pipeline oxygen project was approved last year,it has been commissioned and functional for a few months now.

In the case of cylinders,they had to be replaced as they soon ran out of oxygen,thus interrupting supply to the patient. Besides,each time an empty cylinder is replaced with a full one,the knobs have to be adjusted for the right flow,which meant loss of valuable time.

Oxygen is widely used in emergency medicine and patients who have breathing difficulty,severe trauma,major haemorrhage,shock,convulsion,chronic conditions like obstructive pulmonary disease and other serious ailments. So far the system entailed use of large,heavy cylinders that needed to be changed often as the contents ran out quickly,explains Dr Ajay Chandanwale,Dean,B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital.

According to Dr Kalpana Kelkar,head of the anaesthesia department at Sassoon General Hospital,for piped oxygen,a central suction facility connected to medical and surgical intensive care units and the casualty has been set up. There is no need for separate suction machines. In the long run,this mode of delivery is economically feasible and guarantees continuous supply,she says “The main liquefied oxygen tank has been commissioned and has a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres. One cubic metre is equivalent to the gas 10 cylinders can hold and once we gauge the level going down in the tank,it can be soon refilled,” she added.

The paediatric and neonatal intensive care units,however,has its own small liquefied oxygen tank. The unit was commissioned only two days ago,says Dr Sandhya Khadse,head of the paediatric department at the hospital. The building that houses the paediatric department is located away from the main units on the campus and it was not thought economically viable to extend the pipeline from the main oxygen unit,she explained.