Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 13 JUNE: During the second wave of COVID-19, demand for medical oxygen increased drastically across the country. Manufacturing medical oxygen has become vital in order to ensure that the country has an abundant supply of it in the future, and meets the current demand as well. Meanwhile, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, has launched ‘Project O2 for India’ to help stakeholders improve the country’s ability to supply the rising demand for medical oxygen.
Under the project, a National Consortium of Oxygen is enabling the national level supply of critical raw materials such as zeolites, setting up of small oxygen plants, manufacturing compressors and final products like oxygen plants, concentrators, and ventilators.
The consortium is not only looking forward to providing immediate to short-term relief but also working to strengthen the manufacturing ecosystem for long-term preparedness, said a statement issued by the office of Principal Scientific Advisor.
A committee of experts has been evaluating critical equipment such as oxygen plants, concentrators, and ventilators, from a pool of India-based manufacturers, start-ups, and MSMEs (in partnership with FICCI, MESA, etc).
The manufacturing and supply consortium also includes Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL); Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE); C-CAMP, Bengaluru; IIT Kanpur (IIT-K); IIT Delhi (IIT-D);IIT Bombay (IIT-B), IIT Hyderabad (IIT-H); IISER, Bhopal; Venture Center, Pune; and more than 40 MSMEs.
The consortium has started to secure CSR/philanthropic grants from organizations like USAID, Edwards Life sciences Foundation, Climate Works Foundation, etc.
Hope Foundation, American Indian Foundation, Walmart, Hitachi, BNP Paribas, and eInfoChips are procuring oxygen concentrators and VPSA/PSA plants as part of their CSR efforts to aid the consortium’s work.
NMDC Ltd has agreed to fund the procurement of raw materials like zeolite for the manufacturers in the consortium.
Tags: #MedicalOxygen #Oxygen #OxygenShortage #ProjectO2