Malda Medical College and Hospital is all set to install a liquid medical oxygen (LMO) tank with a capacity to store 20 kilolitre of the gas for medical use, especially to meet the extra need of it for Covid patients. This will be the second such tank for the MMCH, while the place for installation of a PSA (pressure swing adsorption) oxygen plant in the premises is also going to be selected, officials said.
“This tank will be refilled in due time, but once the PSA plant comes into existence, the MMCH will produce its own oxygen. Added to this, four new Covid treatment facilities will also be set up in the district, given the surge in infections,” a source said.
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According to sources, a huge tank of liquid oxygen storage reached the MMCH this morning from Maharashtra and the company in charge of its installation and refill has already started work to set it up. Engineers doing the work expect that the tank would be ready for use at a place near the trauma care unit of the MMCH within a week or two.
Vaporized oxygen will reach the patients through pipes in the 175-bed Covid hospital there. “We are having a new LMO tank to meet the demand for oxygen. A PSA oxygen plant is also on the anvil and the place for its installation is being looked for. We are also adding 25 more beds in the Covid hospital in the trauma care unit to make it a 200-bed facility,” Dr Parthapratim Mukherjee, the principal of the MMCH, said.
Sources said four more Covid hospitals are being setup in the district to tackle the current surge in infections. The Chanchal Super Speciality Hospital will get a 100-bed facility, while the RN Roy Hospital of Bulbulchandi in Habibpur block, Milki village hospital and Sujapur primary health centre will each get a 50-bed facility. “The Covid hospitals will be set up shortly and an oxygen plant will also be set up in Chanchal,” District Magistrate Rajarshi Mitra said.