National News

1 Lakh Portable Oxygen Concentrators to be Procured from PM CARES Fund

PM Narendra Modi instructed that these Oxygen Concentrators should be procured at the earliest and provided in states with high case burden.

Sentinel Digital Desk

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sanctioned the procurement of 1 Lakh Portable Oxygen Concentrators from the PM Cares Fund

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to discuss the measures needed to improve Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) Supply for COVID management.

PM instructed that these Oxygen Concentrators should be procured at the earliest and provided in states with high case burden.

In addition to the earlier sanctioned 713 PSA plants under PM Cares Fund, 500 new Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants have been sanctioned under PM CARES Fund.

The PSA plants will augment the supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen at hospitals in district headquarters and Tier 2 cities. These 500 PSA plants will be established with the transfer of the indigenous technology developed by DRDO and CSIR to the domestic manufacturers.

Establishing PSA plants and procurement of portable oxygen concentrators will greatly augment the supply of oxygen near the demand clusters, thereby addressing the current logistical challenges in transporting oxygen from plants to hospitals.

Meanwhile, taking to his Twitter handle Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, "In what shall massively augment supply across the country, PM Sri @narendramodi sanctions procurement of 1 lakh portable #Oxygen concentrators & 500 more PSA Oxygen plants through #PMCaresFund. PM leads from front as #IndiaFightsBack."

On the other hand, Assam has received 1.5 lakh more doses of Covishield Vaccine from the government of India today and with this, the state's total availability of doses stands at 770030.