Oxfam India’s First Oxygen Plant in Tumkur

Oxfam India’s First Oxygen Plant in Tumkur

Tumkur MLA, Dalit Leader and former deputy chief minister of Karnataka, G Parameshwara inaugurated the Oxygen plant, set up by Oxfam India, at the Koratagere Govt Hospital at Tumkur on 26 July 2021.

The 300 LPM plant, set up under Oxfam India’s COVID-19 response ‘Mission Sanjeevani’, at the 80-bed government hospital will cater to people from 46 surrounding villages. The villages comprise dalit and adivasi families.

In Karnataka, since April 2021, we provided ration kits and hygiene kits to 300 families, marginalised and rendered even more vulnerable due to the pandemic and the lockdown. Medical equipment such as Oxygen cylinder, BiPAP machines, and Oxygen concentrators, along with beds and PPE Kits have been delivered to three Govt Hospitals, one Charitable Hospital and five Primary Health Centres.

In the coming months in Karnataka, we will be delivering medical equipment to nine hospitals and 40 PHCs. Besides providing food and hygiene kit to 850 families, we will also work with 7000 ASHA workers across the state and provide them with medical kits for a larger community outreach to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour and also tackle the issue of vaccine hesitancy.

The second wave of COVID-19 witnessed a massive shortage of Oxygen due to which many people lost their lives. Through ‘Mission Sanjeevani’ we are strengthening the public healthcare systems and the Oxygen plant is a step towards preparing for an impending third wave. The Tumkur Oxygen plant is the first of the 10 plants that we will be setting up.

Oxfam India has been on the ground since March 2020 in 16 states. Through our COVID-19 response we have given Rs 2.96 Crore as direct cash transfer to 9481 vulnerable households. We have reached 4,56,850 people with one month’s supply of dry ration. Through ‘Mission Sanjeevani’ (since April this year) we have provided critical lifesaving equipment and diagnostic equipment support such as oxygen cylinders (over 400), concentrators (over 100), digital thermometers (almost 1700), oximeters (over 900) along with 18000 COVID testing kits, over 75,500 Community Safety kits and almost 15,000 PPE kits for healthcare and frontline workers. Read details of our response here. 

For Oxfam India, the primary focus in the second wave is health. Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said: “We are reaching out to public healthcare institutions, district administrations and COVID Care Centres with medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, patient monitoring systems, oximeters, oxygen nasal masks, and thermometers along with PPE kits and safety kits for frontline health workers.”

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