Times Of Swaziland: OXYGEN PLANT FOR ESWATINI AS COVID-19 DEATHS SURGE

OXYGEN PLANT FOR ESWATINI AS COVID-19 DEATHS SURGE
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Stanley Khumalo on 05/01/2021 14:15:00


MANZINI – In three to five week’s time, the country could have its own
oxygen plant.
As critical COVID -19 patients battle to survive while others flood emergency
wards after contracting the virus, only to find that hospitals are without 
oxygen, government has seemingly started to think outside the box. Following the
shortage of oxygen that had been reported by the Ministry of Health, the
Director of Health Services, Dr Vusi Magagula, said government was already
engaging entrepreneurs on a possible solution. In their engagement, he said, one
entrepreneur committed to assist government to set up an oxygen plant in the
country. But for this to happen, Dr Magagula said, the service provider had
requested three weeks to have the plant up and running. “What we have gathered
is that the shortage has been brought about by the limitation of cylinders as
they are from South Africa. The demand for oxygen is unprecedented and we need
to act fast on the demand,” Dr Magagula said.
Distributed
He said there was plenty of oxygen in the atmosphere and it needed to be
collected and compressed into the cylinders before being distributed to
hospitals. This was also affirmed by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the
Ministry of Health, Dr Simon Zwane. He said given the envisaged scramble for
oxygen in the region as the COVID-19 cases surged, government had seen it fit to
have alternatives for sourcing oxygen. Among them, he said, was what was known
as on-site oxygen generation.
According to Generon, an oxygen production company, on-site oxygen generators
are a cost-effective alternative to purchasing cylinder oxygen from industrial
gas suppliers. By producing your own oxygen gas, at your facility, you can save
up to 80 per cent of traditional gas contract costs. Dr Zwane said government
was seeking to explore this method as the duration of setting up the plant took
between three to five weeks. This duration, he said, was dependent on the size
of the facilities. He said: “We are already engaging with a number of
companies and once everything has been finalised, we shall follow government
procurement standards.” Besides this long-term solution to the oxygen shortage
challenge, Dr Zwane said government was also seeking to have oxygen bulk storage
cylinders in medical health facilities.