Guyana’s Infectious Disease Hospital is expected to receive a boost in capacity with the installation of an oxygen plant through a donation.
The oxygen plant which has already been sourced but is yet to arrive in Guyana due to logistics challenges is being donated to the facility through the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) and Sewa Guyana International.
During a joint press conference yesterday, it was revealed that the plant costs approximately US$150,000. Coordinator of the HSS, Ravi Dev stated that the effort to source and donate an oxygen plant to the Ministry of Health and by extension, the infectious disease facility at Liliendaal came after numerous discussions were held with the ministry.
Dev said that the Health Minister during a discussion asked whether they would be able to source one of the oxygen generating plants in an effort to reduce the cost of purchasing oxygen for the facility. “…Looking ahead he felt and he was proven right unfortunately, he felt that we would have our surge sooner rather than later,” the coordinator said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony stated that one of the areas that the health authorities here thought that they might be challenged with was the provision of adequate supplies of oxygen for the facility which has the capacity to hold close to 200 patients.
He explained that in discussions with Dev and the HSS team, the international chapter was contacted about the possibility of a donation and as such it was agreed that it was something that could be done.
“The challenge that we have is the plant is ready but it’s really the logistics of getting it to Guyana. We on our side we have made the arrangements where we are going to install we have put all those things together, but it’s the logistics of getting the plant into Guyana,” Dr. Anthony said.
The minister was asked how much having an oxygen generating plant on site would save the ministry to which he said that they will have to do the calculation but stated that it would go a significant way in assisting the COVID-19 facility.
Dr Anthony told the press conference, “On average we have about 120 patients there, in some cases we have had 30 to 35 persons in the ICU and normally a patient would require on average about 15 litres of oxygen per minute so this here is going to help us tremendously once we’re able to put it in place.”
The plant is reportedly set to occupy approximately 512 square feet at the Liliendaal facility. According to the organizations, the plant will work 24 hours per day and as such an engineer from India will be commissioning it and also facilitating training.
