Nagaland has sufficient stock of oxygen amid rising Covid cases: Official

A senior official of the Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Department on Sunday claimed that the state has sufficient stock of oxygen despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

"There is sufficient stock of Oxygen and the state is fully prepared to face even the worst situation amidst the increasing number of fresh infections," Health and Family Welfare Department, Joint Director, Dr Neisakho Kere told reporters here.

He said there are 1,617 type B oxygen cylinders (small) and 402 type D cylinders (big).

All these are available in the districts while 250 oxygen concentrators have also been distributed to all the districts, he said.

The concentrators do not require any oxygen cylinders as the machine will generate oxygen from the atmospheric pressure of the room which can be directly given to the patient, he said.

With the oxygen concentrators the moderate case of COVID-19 can be managed while severe cases require type D and B oxygen cylinders, he said.

"Currently, the COVID-19 positive cases in the state are mostly with mild and moderate symptoms while severe cases are less and we have enough cylinders to deal with those cases," he said.

He said that there are 58 B type and 56 D type oxygen cylinders available with the department after distributing to the respective districts.

Besides the present status of oxygen, Dr Kere also informed that work is in progress for installation of three Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants provided through PM Cares in Kohima, Dimapur and Mokokchung.

Among the three, Kohima will have the maximum production capacity of 300 litres per minute (lpm) while Dimapur and Mokokchung districts will have 200 lpm capacity, he said.

Civil works for oxygen plants in other districts have already started while some districts like Longleng, Mon, Tuensang and Phek have already started constructing the building for an oxygen plant, he said.

Tuensang and Phek will get 150 lpm plants funded by UNDP and the rest of the districts will get plants from UNICEF with 100-150 lpm, he said.

He also informed that the Government of India is also likely to grant two more plants having 1000 lpm capacity each for Kohima and Dimapur to further boost the oxygen generation capacity of the state.

With these oxygen plants, Nagaland will have enough oxygen for patients and will not face shortage even in the worst situation, he claimed.

With the increase in the oxygen generation plants, the state has proposed 1200 type D and 800 type B cylinders, which would be received shortly, he informed.

Beyond the B and D types of oxygen cylinders and the available 250 oxygen concentrators, the state has also proposed for 800 more oxygen concentrators, which would soon be provided by the Central government, he said.

The Joint Director also informed that the PSA Oxygen Generation Plants are expected to be completed by end of this month.