In order to ensure smooth running and real-time monitoring of oxygen supply in the national capital, Delhi Government has started installing telemetry devices on oxygen tanks of government and private hospitals.
The Kejriwal government has issued an action plan under which telemetry devices will be installed in the oxygen tanks of 53 big government and private hospitals of Delhi.
“Real-time oxygen stock monitoring will be done through these telemetry devices installed in tanks that will help in supplying oxygen as per the need and ensure transparency,” the health ministry said in a statement.
The decision was taken after experiencing a sudden shortage of oxygen in hospitals across the country last year and many hospitals started sounding the emergency alarm of running out of oxygen. The massive case load registered last year coupled with high death rate, had left the authorities in lurch. “At that time, the process of allocation of oxygen was being controlled by the central government, due to which it became very difficult to arrange oxygen for all the states,” it said.
“The Kejriwal government has decided to install 100 remote telemetry devices in Liquid Medical Oxygen Storage Tanks in 53 major hospitals of Delhi so that real-time monitoring can be done centrally through the Delhi government’s COVID War Room. These 100 oxygen storage tanks have a total capacity of 845.92 MT. With this device, the government will be able to ensure the information of oxygen availability on a real-time basis and oxygen will be delivered on time to the needy hospital without any hassle,” it said.
With this facility, live monitoring of oxygen levels will be done through the Delhi Government COVID war room, it said, adding that this will help in monitoring how much oxygen is available in which hospital so that oxygen can be delivered to the needy hospital in time in case of emergency.
“The telemetry device will help in transmitting the live information of the amount of oxygen present in each liquid medical oxygen tank to the war room of the Delhi government. This will help in finding out how much oxygen is left in which hospital so that oxygen can be delivered to that hospital in time,” it added.
Liquid Medical Oxygen is nothing but high purity oxygen which is used for medical treatment. The medical oxygen is stored in large tankers outside hospitals and delivered to patients through pipelines or through oxygen cylinders when needed. Telemetry devices are installed in these liquid medical oxygen tanks so that they can be monitored on a real-time basis.