IGL says oxygen supplies adequate for fourth COVID wave
Published:Friday | December 10, 2021 | 12:12 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
As Jamaica remains on alert for a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic as the Omicron variant makes its trek across the globe, IGL Blue Limited Chairman Bevon Francis has indicated that there are sufficient quantities of medical-grade oxygen should there be a heavy demand.
In August, during the third wave of the coronavirus, under-pressure hospitals islandwide ran low on oxygen, a situation believed to have caused several deaths although the Government has not released an official tally.
“What we have right now operating is enough capacity to supply the worst need that we have had, and in addition to that, we are also installing additional equipment to increase that supply capability,” Francis told The Gleaner on Thursday at 2021 Ignite IGL Foundation Scholarship presentation ceremony at The University of the West Indies, Mona.
“The IGL supply capabilities right now well exceed the current demand for the country and also exceed certain percentage increase in demand,” he continued although he did not have the data in hand as to the exact quantities available.
Francis said that a lot of the problems with supplies during August arose from the limited infrastructure at the hospitals.
“A lot of the problems that you might see sounds as though it’s really IGL’s problem, [but] a lot of it has been in the hospital themselves in the way they have been able to utilise the oxygen that has been available to them,” he told The Gleaner.
“In other words, if you have a ward and the ward is not equipped to handle the volume of oxygen that they need, right, then you could end up with a shortage of oxygen, even though there is oxygen at the hospital, so that has been part of the problem as well,” he said.
Francis said that the company is itself stocking up on imported supplies to complement those produced at its plant in Ferry, St Catherine, noting that shortages overseas during the summer had also caused challenges in sourcing imports.
“When Jamaica went through a little bit of crisis period, if you were looking at the TV at the United States information, you would see that many states were running out of oxygen as well, and what happened to us is that whereas we were normally able to pretty much import whatever quantities of oxygen we need, we had situations where our suppliers said to us, ‘We are not allowed to export any more oxygen’, because the country, the United States of America, needs it,” said Francis.
Dr Carl Bruce, medical chief of staff at The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), said that the St Andrew-based medical facility is working with IGL, the island’s sole supplier of the gas, in preparation for any sudden surge in demand.
“At the present time, working with IGL, we have a liquid oxygen tank, but we also have what we call the mobile tanks, which are several tanks put together that can be hauled. What we do is we keep both of them filled, along with what we call our back-up cylinders,” he disclosed.
“We are better prepared to move forward even if we get another wave of patients,” said Bruce.
He said that the UHWI has about 15,000 square cubic yards of oxygen available at any one time and uses approximately 1,000 square cubic yards per day.