Eight major hospitals of KP witness 83% increase in oxygen consumption
April 23, 2021
Owing to the rising number of coronavirus cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the consumption of oxygen in eight major hospitals of the province has increased by 83% over the last one-and-a-half week.
The consumption of oxygen across all eight major hospitals has increased from 40,000 litres to 72,500 litres.
The daily oxygen requirement at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital has increased by 66%, while the oxygen consumption at Khyber Teaching Hospital has increased from 6,000 litres to 7,500 litres.
Oxygen consumption in Mardan Medical Complex has increased by 23% in the last 12 days. Similarly, the consumption of oxygen in Ayub Teaching Hospital in Abbottabad increased by 66%, while it increased by 89% in Bannu's Khalifa Gulnawaz Teaching Hospital.
On the other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Health Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah told Geo News that there was no shortage of oxygen in the province and every effort was being made to restore the supply.
He said that the oxygen plants in Sindh are supplying the gas to Punjab, therefore, it is feared that if the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise in Sindh, then Punjab will no longer be able to supply oxygen to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it will have to meet its own demand.
Imtiaz Hussain Shah further said that work has been started to set up an oxygen plant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [so that it does not have to rely on Punjab anymore], adding that the availability of the gas in all the hospitals of the province is being checked on a daily basis.
He said that a new, 8,000-litre gas tank is being installed in Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, while gas storage is being gradually increased in different districts of the province, including Charsadda, Mardan, and Nowshera.
