‘Installation of oxygen plant in 15 days not possible’

KATHMANDU, May 14: The private hospitals have said that installing oxygen plants in 15 days was not possible. Issuing a statement on Thursday, President of Association of Private Health Institutions of Nepal, Basant Chaudhary has said that the installation was not possible in such a short time as lockdown was in place while international aviation service was shut down.

The statement comes in response to a directive issued today to the community and private hospitals by the government with more than 100-bed capacity to install oxygen plants in their respective medical facility within the next 15 days. "A plant as per the standard specified by the government costs 2 million rupees with an additional 5 million for infrastructure, which cannot be afforded by all the hospitals in the current situation," reads the statement.

All private hospitals have been directed to install oxygen plants to ensure supply of medical oxygen for coronavirus infected patients within 15 days, said joint spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari. Earlier, the Council of Ministers had also decided to waive off custom duties in the materials used in installation of oxygen plants in hospitals.