Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra handed over a 960 LPM Medical Oxygen Plant to Minister of State for Health Umesh Shrestha at a ceremony organized at the Ministry of Health & Population.

According to a press release issued by the Embassy of India Kathmandu, this is as part of India’s robust partnership with Nepal in tackling the COVID -19 pandemic,

The Medical Oxygen plant has been installed at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, and is designed to cater to providing 5 Litres Per Minute (LPM) per person amounting to a total capacity of 960 LPM. It thereby carries a capacity to serve 200 patients simultaneously.

At the ceremony, Ambassador highlighted the significance of the deep-rooted and multifaceted partnership between India and Nepal and reiterated that this gift symbolized India’s continued commitment to Nepal in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister Shrestha mentioned that the donation of the oxygen plant was a critical health infrastructure that would reinforce Nepal’s efforts in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that the assistance by the Government of India two decades ago in building BPKIHS in Dharan was an important milestone, and the addition of an oxygen plant today is another milestone that would go a long way in serving the people of Nepal particularly Provinces 1 and 2.

Oxygen is a very important clinical gas in health care centers and hospitals for the treatment of COVID 19 patients, as has been experienced during the second wave of the pandemic in both India and Nepal.

With this DEBEL Medical Oxygen Plant that has been developed by Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), hospitals now have the option of generating medical oxygen on-site, in a highly cost-effective manner. India is the 4th country in the world to develop this technology, which utilizes the Pressure Swing Adsorption technique and molecular sieve technology to generate oxygen directly from atmospheric air. The installation of the medical oxygen plant would help in avoiding the dependency of hospitals on scarce oxygen cylinders. This would help in reducing the logistics of transporting cylinders and also continuous and reliable oxygen supply available round the clock.

“The Government of India will continue to stand with Nepal and its people in fighting the pandemic and providing necessary assistance as best possible in accordance with our deep-rooted bilateral ties,” reads a press release issued by the Embassy.