Home ›› 31 Jul 2021 ›› Front
Abul Khair Group and GPH Ispat Limited, two of Chittagong’s largest conglomerates, have been producing medical oxygen to aid the country’s healthcare system amid a rise in Covid-19 cases.
The two conglomerates now meet around 25 per cent of the country’s daily oxygen demand, while half of their supply is distributed free of cost for Covid-19 infected people, industry sources said.
With a combined production capacity of 500 tons of industrial oxygen, the two companies now produce more than 50 tons of medical oxygen on an average every day, which are then sent to hospitals across Bangladesh.
The health department said that the demand for medical oxygen spiralled due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent months across the country.
The country normally requires 70 to 80 tons of medical oxygen every day. However, due to a sudden increase in Covid-19 cases, the daily requirement shot up to 200 tons to 210 tons a day, health officials said.
Talking to The Business Post, Abul Khair Steel Melting Ltd Chief Executive Officer M Abdullah said that they started producing industrial oxygen at their plant in 2015. The production
capacity of their plant is 260 tonnes. In 2020, Abul Khair Group started producing medical oxygen for public interest.
“So far, oxygen cylinders from hospitals and more than 18,000 individuals were refilled at our plant for free of cost. At the same time, more than 5,000 cylinders have been provided and central oxygen supply systems in 20 hospitals were constructed under our own initiative,” he said.
“Besides that, oxygen banks are being set up in 17 hospitals in different districts of the country to ensure continuous supply of medical oxygen locally to support the government’s efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals will be able to use oxygen from this bank if they need extra oxygen. At the same time, there will be a system to refill oxygen cylinders for everyone free of cost,” Abdullah added.
He also said in order to further expand this programme to 2021, it is supplying around 30 tons of liquid oxygen through two companies approved by the Ministry of Health. The revenue earned from this programme will be donated to the prime minister’s relief fund.
The health department also said that the government is now importing oxygen from India to address the present high demand for medical oxygen. The medical oxygen supply is also being aided by several organisations in the country.
Although there is no shortage of medical oxygen in the country at present, health officials expressed concerns that the country might face a shortage if the number of coronavirus infections continues to grow further in future.
GPH Ispat Head of Facility and Estate Shahidul Alam Al Masud said they started producing oxygen at their plant, which a daily production capacity is 230 to 250 tonnes, in late 2019. Later in June 2020, they started producing medical oxygen as the demand rose alongside with a rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.
At present, GPH Ispat produces 30 tons of medical oxygen.
“So far, we have supplied 76,784 small and large oxygen cylinders across the country. Besides, we have supplied 6.88 million litres of medical oxygen through CNC, Spectra and Bengal Oxygen all over Bangladesh. It will be possible to increase our production quantity with more government cooperation,” he told The Business Post on Thursday.
“Although CNC, Spectra and Bengal Oxygen buy oxygen from us at a nominal price; we are supplying oxygen to various hospitals in Chittagong free of cost. We have two vehicles on standby to supply oxygen free of cost. Through this, we are supplying oxygen to different parts of the country and refilling the cylinders.”
“We have to keep several units active to keep the medical oxygen production running. Besides, electricity is also spent during the production, which is very costly. However, we will keep this plant operational for the interest of the country and in service to humanity,” he added.
Meanwhile, GPH Ispat Executive Director Madani M Imtiaz Hossain said that they will be able to play a strong role in the initiative taken by the government to store oxygen at different district and upazila levels.
