One lakh portable oxygen concentrators, 500 PSA plants to be procured from PM CARES fund: PMO

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sanctioned procurement of one lakh portable oxygen concentrators and 500 new Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants from the PM Cares Fund.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Modi to discuss the measures needed to improve Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) supply for COVID-19 management, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday (April 28).

The PM instructed that these oxygen concentrators should be procured at the earliest and provided to states with high case burden.

“In addition to the earlier sanctioned 713 PSA plants under PM Cares Fund, 500 new Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants have been sanctioned under PM CARES Fund,” the PMO said.

The new PSA plants will be established with the transfer of the indigenous technology developed by DRDO and CSIR to the domestic manufacturers.

The plants are expected to augment the supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen at hospitals in district headquarters and tier 2 cities.

The move is aimed at addressing the current logistical challenges in transporting oxygen from plants to hospitals.

PM Modi on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting with top officials to review the COVID-19 situation in the country. The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary,  Home Secretary, NITI Aayog member, DG ICMR among other top officials.

He reviewed the situation in the country relating to oxygen availability, medicines and health infrastructure.

He asked the officials to work closely with state governments to start pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants.

The Empowered Group working on boosting Oxygen Supply briefed the PM on the efforts being made to ramp up the availability and supply of oxygen in the country.