KATHMANDU, Jun 14 (NNN-XINHUA) – Nepali Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, yesterday laid a foundation stone virtually, for the construction of his country’s first liquid oxygen plant, which is expected to help substitute oxygen import from India.
“As they will be insufficient at the time of a pandemic, the liquid oxygen plant will be important in meeting the deficit in oxygen supplies,” Oli said, during the virtual inauguration ceremony.
Shankar Oxygen Gas Pvt. Ltd, the sole importer of liquid oxygen in Nepal, is setting up its own liquid oxygen plant, in the south-western city of Bhairahawa. Covering an area of 3,716 square metres, the plant shall have a production capacity of 60 tonnes per day, according to the company.
The excess production could be exported to neighbouring countries and used in the industrial sector, once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, said Oli.
Some hospitals in Nepal, which were relying on imported liquid oxygen, were forced to resort to bottled oxygen for several days last month, after Indian authorities ordered a halt to exports, due to a surging demand for oxygen at home, to cope with a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 infections.
In May, some Nepali hospitals had to turn away COVID-19 patients, due to an acute shortage of medical oxygen and beds, as 8,000-9,000 new cases were reported in most days of the month, after a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic befell in early Apr.
In response, the Nepali government made it mandatory for hospitals with over 100 beds, to establish their own oxygen plants.– NNN-XINHUA
