India / PM Modi inaugurates 35 PSA oxygen plants established under PM CARES Fund

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurate 35 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants established under the PM CARES fund across 35 states and union territories in an event held at AIIMS Rishikesh in Uttarakhand on Thursday.

With this, all districts of the country will now have commissioned PSA oxygen plants informed by the PMO.

After the inauguration of the life-saving plants, PM Modi said that India is strengthening its medical infrastructure so that none of the citizens of the country ever face oxygen crisis and the country will be able to battle the Covid pandemic. PM Modi said that the centre has made efforts to make sure that no life should be lost due to the lack of oxygen and these plants will ensure continuous supply to the country.

PM Modi informed that on normal days, India used to produce 900 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen a day. As the demand increased, India increased the production of medical oxygen by more than 10 times. This was an unimaginable goal for any country in the world, but India has achieved it.

PM Modi further said that India has been making relentless efforts to improve the medical facilities such as new ventilators even in remote areas of the country, rapid and large-scale manufacturing of made in India Corona vaccine, the world's largest and fastest vaccination campaign, the country has shown its determination to fight this Covid pandemic.

PM Modi emphasized the fact that in such a short span of time, facilities made available by India show the country's capability. From 1 testing lab to the establishment of a network of 3,000 testing labs & from the import of masks & kits to its manufacturing, India is quickly moving forward as an exporter.

PM also appreciated the country's CoWIN platform and said, "India has shown the way to the whole world by building the CoWIN platform that how vaccination is done on such a large scale."

The Prime Minister said that with the efforts of the State Govt and the Centre, India will have 4,000 new oxygen plants, established under PM CARES which will make our country more capable.

Till now a total of 1,224 PSA oxygen plants have been funded under the PM CARES fund across the country, PMO said in a statement, noting that of these, more than 1,100 plants have been commissioned providing an output of over 1,750 MT oxygen per day.

"It is a testimony of the proactive measures taken by the government to augment India's medical oxygen generation capacity since the advent of COVID-19 pandemic," it said.

The project to commission a PSA oxygen plant in each district of the country was executed while dealing with complex challenges of hilly areas, islands and territories with difficult terrain, it said.

Operations and maintenance of these plants have been ensured by training more than 7,000 personnel.

They come with an embedded Internet of Things (IoT) device for real time monitoring of their functioning and performance through a consolidated web portal.

Prime Minister's visit to Uttarkhand holds huge significance ahead of the assembly elections in 2022.