By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: A 500-bedded COVID Care hospital near Village Baljattan, Panipat, Haryana was inaugurated today by the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and the Chief Minister of Haryana Shri Manohar Lal. Haryana Health Minister Shri Anil Vij and Karnal Lok Sabha MP Shri Sanjay Bhatia were also present on the occasion. This hospital has been constructed by Haryana Government with the support of Indian Oil. Indian Oil Corporation Limited will be supplying gaseous oxygen for the same. The temporary COVID Hospital near the refinery in Panipat has been named Guru Tegh Bahadur Sanjivani COVID Hospital.
The job of building this hospital started on 29th April which went on a war footing basis. The hospital will cater to patients from nearby districts such as Panipat, Karnal, Sonipat etc, after getting the referral from respective District Civil Hospital. Over 275 healthcare professionals will be manning this hospital including Government doctors, doctors on internship, nurses and nursing students. The hospital is equipped with a dedicated gaseous oxygen pipeline of 15 MT / per day maximum capacity installed by Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Panipat Refinery & Petrochemical Complex. Indian Oil Corporation Limited has also arranged for stay of healthcare personnel who will work in this hospital in nearby hotels for a period of six months.
Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan congratulated IndianOil and Haryana Government for completing this project in such a short period. Calling the Covid-19 pandemic as once in a century crisis, he said that the Government of India is taking relentless efforts to fight against the second surge of COVID 19 and save lives. About the contribution of petroleum and steel sector towards India’s fight against the pandemic, Shri Pradhan said that these two sectors together are supplying major part of Liquid Medical Oxygen(LMO) national requirement on a daily basis. He also highlighted steps like import of LMO, procurement of oxygen concentrators and cryogenic containers, filling of cylinders at refineries and providing logistics support for transport of Liquid Oxygen. Mentioning about the Setting up of Jumbo Covid Care facilities by Steel and Petroleum Sector, Shri Pradhan said that Steel sector is setting up Jumbo Covid Facilities in 15 places using gaseous oxygen, and approx. 8500 oxygenated beds will be made available for the treatment of Covid patients. Similarly, Petroleum Sector will also provide 2000 beds facilities at its refineries (BPCL Bina, IOC Panipat, BPCL Kochi, HMEL Bathinda, and CPCL Chennai).
The Minister said that the Union and the State Governments are working together to fulfill the requirements of Oxygen, Ventilators, Beds and Medicines. He also assured that Vaccine availability will jump substantially in the next few months. The Minister said the IOCL will provide free vaccination to all the stakeholders (including employees of the petrol pumps, people engaged in the LPG distribution) as well as the people living near the Panipat refinery. He also announced that Indianoil will make an Rs 100-Crore cluster of low-cost housing for the workers in Panipat.
Haryana chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal said that the State Government has taken a number of steps to fight the second wave of Covid-19 which has spread very fast. He said that Oxygen availability was a major constraint in the treatment of large number of people suffering from the disease. The setting up of Covid hospitals near the Oxygen producing centres, like refinery and steel plants, is going to mitigate the problem. He said that a 500 bed centre has been inaugurated in Hissar near the Steel plant. Along with this one near Refinery, the Government’s efforts will get boost and people will get relief. He said that third wave of pandemic is being talked about, which may or not materialize but one has to be prepared for the worst. The Chief Minister congratulated various state departments and IndianOil for operationalizing the hospital in such a short time. He said that 300 beds will be immediately available while remaining 200 beds will become operational soon..
Laying of pipeline for supplying medical oxygen to 500 bedded COVID Hospital has been undertaken by IOCL Panipat Refinery & Petrochemical Complex, at a cost of Rs. 1.65 Crore. Job has been completed on war footing basis by laying 1.75 KM, 3” SS-304 pipeline from gaseous oxygen line going to MEG Plant of Panipat Naphtha Cracker. A 6” fire water line has also been laid in parallel. A tapping has been taken to supply gaseous oxygen with two Control valves for pressure reduction from 30 kg/cm2 to 7.5 kg/cm2 at hospital end. This line has capacity for supplying 15 MT per day oxygen to Hospital. This oxygen supply will be made available at free of cost to the hospital. Indian Oil is also providing 50 rooms in nearby hotels for making stay arrangements of Doctors, engaged on round the clock basis at a cost of Rs. 1.84 Crore under CSR.
