The oxygen plant is expected to be set up at the Infectious Disease Hospital (Ocean View Facility) and it is expected to greatly reduce the costs of treating infected patients.
At a press conference on Monday, it was revealed that the plant has already been procured but officials are awaiting logistical arrangements to have it airlifted here.
HSS Coordinator, Ravi Dev informed that “the plant has already been sourced, it’s just a matter of getting a flight. It’s in the hands of DHL and they will be flown into Guyana, you could imagine the expense of flying it.”
When it arrives, an engineer from India will commission the plant.
This new equipment will occupy 512sqft and is capable of supplying 800 litres of oxygen per minute.
According to Health Ministry, Dr Frank Anthony, it will significantly cut costs from purchasing oxygen.
“We were anticipating a Delta surge and we were talking about the needs that we’ll have in case such a surge occurs. And earlier in the year, when contemplating, this is one of the areas which we thought we might be challenged, was in the area of providing adequate supplies of oxygen. As you know, the Covid-19 Hospital at Liliendaal, we do have close to 200 beds and we have been buying oxygen for that facility, our ICU set up there, we’ve moved it from eight beds to now about 52 beds and therefore providing constantly the amount of oxygen is very expensive exercise,” Dr Anthony explained.
