A team of experts of State Drugs Control Directorates (SDCD) of Jharkhand on Saturday inspected oxygen manufacturing unit of the Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited (HEC) at Hatia in Ranchi where experts directed HEC officials for repair and few changes in design of existing unit to make it compatible to produce medical oxygen.
The team visited the HEC unit in the wake of HEC seeking licence to produce medical oxygen to meet increasing demand of medical oxygen to save life of critical patients of Covid 19.
“I believe HEC will complete necessary rectification and change in design within four to five days. Once this is done the team will further visit the unit. The production licence will be granted only after that. Medical oxygen and industrial oxygen are two different things. HEC has an industrial oxygen production unit,” said a senior official of SDCD.
The official categorically denied that HEC has been granted any temporary licence. But the official assured that license will be issued on priority basis.
HEC currently arranges industrial oxygen from outside as HEC’s own unit is shut down due to some technical snag. HEC plans to convert industrial oxygen into medical oxygen.
“In principle our proposal has been accepted by SDCD. At a time when the entire nation is fight against covid 19 this is our responsibility to be the part of this battle. Hence, we decided to produce medical oxygen. We are hopeful to get a production license as early as possible,” a senior official of HEC told The Pioneer.
However, the official could not explain about the per day production the HEC have planned. But this is widely believed that the production will be primarily used for inhouse use. A good number of employees and their family members are affected by Covid 19 and they may require oxygen.