Coal India All Set to Install 25 Medical Oxygen Plants across India

PSU miner Coal India (CIL) intends to install close to 25 medical oxygen plants in 22 hospitals, 20 of it is expected to produce 12,700 litre of oxygen per minute. Four other plants would together generate 750 cubic metre per hour and one will be a refilling plant.

Out of these 25 plants, five would be installed at CIL’s own hospitals with 332 beds, and the other 20 plants would be installed in 20 government-run district hospitals across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. The plants in district hospitals would be set up under the company’s corporate social responsibility scheme.

Of the five CIL’s in-house hospitals, Northern Coalfields and Central Coalfields will put up two plants each and Bharat Coking Coal.

In a statement, a senior company executive states, “The CIL-owned five plants will be installed before July, in a phase- wise manner, beginning from the first week of June. Plants supported by CIL at district hospitals are expected to be completed by August.”

“With the government declaring Covid measures as common CSR theme for CPSES in FY22, we shall further augment our Covid relief measures.” said the executive, adding that CIL would pump in 35 crore to set up these plants, 88 percent of which would go to the hospitals other than that of the CIL’s five. All the 25 hospitals together will support 3,328 beds.

The Kolkata-headquartered PSU has supplied ventilators to the Kolkata Police Hospital as a part of its Covid relief measures.

CIL had expenses of 264 crore wholly for Covid relief measures, 50 percent of its total CSR spend of Rs 523 crore in FY 21. The company has 2,324 oxygen cylinders and 237 ventilators ready for use at its hospitals.

However, another Kolkata-based PSU Balmer Lawrie & Co is putting up five Pressure Swing Adsorbtion Oxygen plants on five government hospital campuses at Ballari, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Koppal and Raichur in Karnataka, according to the sources close to the company.