Work closely with state govts to start PSA oxygen plants: PM Modi tells top officials

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (April 27) chaired a high-level meeting with top officials to review the COVID-19 situation in the country.

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

The prime minister reviewed the situation in the country relating to oxygen availability, medicines and health infrastructure.

The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary,  Home Secretary, NITI Aayog member, DG ICMR among other top officials.

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.

“They informed the PM about increasing allocation of Oxygen to states. It was discussed that the production of LMO in the country has increased from 5700 MT/day in August 2020 to the present 8922 MT (on 25th April 2021). The domestic production of LMO is expected to cross 9250 MT/day by the end of April 2021,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

“PM instructed the officials to work closely with state governments to start the PSA Oxygen plants at the earliest,” the statement added.

PM Modi stressed the need to ensure that specific guidelines and strategies regarding COVID management is properly implemented by the relevant agencies in the states.

PM was further briefed about the functioning of the Oxygen Express Railways Service as well as the domestic sorties and international sorties undertaken by IAF to transport oxygen tankers.

The Empowered Group working on Medical Infrastructure and Covid management also briefed the PM on efforts being undertaken to ramp up the availability of beds and ICUs.