ISLAMABAD: Eight medical oxygen generation plants donated by Saudi Arabia have reached Pakistan to support its hospitals, and another 10 will reach the country in the next few days, a top health official said on Saturday.
The oxygen plants will support primary and secondary care facilities in different provinces and in the remote areas of northern Pakistan, Health Ministry director general Dr. Rana Muhammad Safdar told Arab News.
"Saudi government has provided us this assistance and we have received eight oxygen plants from KSA today and 10 more plants will reach in next few days," he said.
"Our tertiary hospitals have already this capacity to generate and store oxygen. These Saudi plants will be installed at district headquarters in different provinces and northern areas."
The plants can also store oxygen and can be easily and quickly transported from hospitals to smaller medical facilities where they are needed.
"Through these plants we will not only cater oxygen requirement of that particular district hospital, but also it will provide oxygen to nearby health facilities," Dr. Safdar said. "These plants have storage capability as well. So, from these plants cylinders can be filled and transported to nearby hospital of that area which will reduce the transportation time."
The plants, he added, will be used not only at hospital wards for coronavirus patients, but also those where oxygen support is needed to treat other conditions.
"We have assessed the requirements in different hospitals, these will be distributed in the whole country," he said. "They will be plugged in to our system as per need."
