In a bid to prepare for any possible future COVID wave, the Centre is planning to create a captive production capacity of around 5,000 tonne of medical oxygen in the hospitals across the country in the next 6-7 months.

The oxygen generation capacity in hospitals will be created jointly by the central and state government agencies.

Of the around 5,000 tonne capacity, the Centre will set up Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants to generate 2,500 tonne of life-saving gas. At the same time, the states will also establish PSA plants with around 2,500 tonne production capacity.

The development comes as, during the second COVID wave, the Centre and states had to procure the medical oxygen required for the patients from plants located more than 1,000 km away.

The Central and state government agencies are now coordinating to ensure that the country does not face an oxygen crisis if another COVID wave hits the country.

The availability of medical oxygen at hospitals will also address the logistics and transportation related difficulties related to life-saving gas.

The total oxygen generation capacity after installation of these PSA plants is expected to rise to around 12,500 tonne per day, over twice the 6,000 tonne per day capacity last year, according to the Road Transport and Highway secretary Giridhar Aramane, who also chairs the Empowered Group on oxygen, reports Economic Times.