*Momento presented to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren by Abhijeet Sinha, Jharkhand State lead PATH

Chief Minister Hemant Soren virtually inaugurated 7 oxygen generation Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants in Jharkhand today. 

PATH supported the setup of these plants in partnership with Google.org, the National Stock Exchange Foundation and Give India, and provided technical and knowledge support for their transport, installation and commissioning. 

The installed PSA plants have a combined cumulative capacity for producing 5,700 LPM (litres per minute) of medical oxygen and will be used to supply medical oxygen for the treatment of respiratory illnesses and support COVID-19 patients across Jharkhand. The pressure swing adsorption oxygen generation plants work by producing a continuous stream of medical oxygen by adsorbing nitrogen from compressed atmospheric air.

Given the current increase in the number of positive cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, these PSA plants can help meet any increased demand for medical oxygen at the installed locations. 

This support will help to make the health centres with the installed PSA plants self-sufficient in the production of medical oxygen and have access to sufficient, uninterrupted oxygen supply to provide necessary care for COVID-19 patients and other patients who may require medical oxygen.

Apart from the Chief Minister, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare of Jharkhand, Shri Banna Gupta; the Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Jharkhand, Shri Arun Kumar Singh; Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Shri Ramesh Gholap; Director of Drugs, Mrs Ritu Sahay;and the Deputy Commissioners of Ranchi, Ramghar, Deoghar, Saraikela, Karsawan, and Jamshedpur attended the virtual inauguration. 

Speaking on the occasion, Sri Soren said, “I thank and appreciate PATH and its partners i.e., Google, Give India, NSE foundation, and CHRI for supporting the state with 8 PSA oxygen plants and other technical support. I request PATH to come up with new projects and support Jharkhand to help improve the health service and health awareness. These PSA plants will help during the current COVID-19 pandemic and will be an asset for any future need. I appeal to the people of Jharkhand to follow all the basic COVID-19 protocols like wear mask, maintain social distancing, which is easy to practice.”

The next speaker, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Banna Gupta said, “I appreciate our honourable Chief Minister for his visionary leadership and innovative approach under whom the state in the past one year has helped neighbouring states with medical oxygen supply during the pandemic. Today is an auspicious day that we have commissioned and inaugurated 8 PSA oxygen generation plants in Jharkhand. With this new addition, we have a total of 93 PSA plants functional today and 9 more PSA plants in the process. Remembering the scenario during the second COVID-19 wave these plants will be beneficial in augmenting the medical oxygen capacity of the state.”

Mr Neeraj Jain, PATH India Country Director and Director, South Asia said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of access to a steady supply of medical oxygen. As part of PATH’s wider efforts to make India’s health facilities self-sufficient in the production of medical oxygen for effective respiratory care, we are happy to have supported the installation of 7 oxygen generation PSA plants in health facilities of Jharkhand. I thank the state government of Jharkhand for their leadership and our donors and partners Google, NSE Foundation and Give India for their support and collaboration for this work. PATH will continue to support the state government’s efforts to strengthen health systems and improve the delivery of health services.”

The locations of the 7 plants are Sadar Hospital-Ranchi, Trauma Center-Ramgarh, Mercy Hospital-Jamshedpur, New Sadar Hospital-Deoghar, CHC Chakulia and CHC Kuchai.

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