IGL upscales medical oxygen systems at hospitals
Published:Tuesday | April 20, 2021 | 2:17 PM
IGL Limited, Jamaica’s sole producer of medical oxygen, is reporting that it has boosted supplies at many hospitals amid increased demand associated with treating COVID-19 patients.
The company’s managing director Peter Graham says IGL is spearheading a shift away from cylinders to bulk supplies at these hospitals, where possible, and expanding on-site storage.
Graham indicated that in response to burgeoning needs, bulk medical oxygen storage at the National Chest Hospital has been expanded by approximately 100 percent while a liquid medical oxygen tank has been installed at the Falmouth Hospital to provide storage for up to four weeks.
At the Savanna-la-lar Hospital, the piped system was modified to reduce reliance on cylinders, the Percy Junor Hospital has been upgraded to accommodate a two-week supply, and bulk storage is also being commissioned for the Annotto Bay Hospital to provide up to three weeks of storage.
In Photo: Peter Graham
According to Graham, there has been a vast improvement in medical oxygen at hospitals when compared to a month ago.
“It’s a fluid situation with uncertainties around the rate and scale of infection but IGL Ltd is fully committed to doing our part to ensure adequate supplies of medical oxygen for Jamaica.”
He added: “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented demand worldwide for medical oxygen. We cannot reiterate enough the importance and benefit to the country of IGL having and operating a plant locally as countries continue to limit the amount of medical oxygen exported given their own local demand. The plant continues to produce at full capacity and over the last month, IGL has invested tens of millions (of Jamaican dollars) to provide increased bulk medical oxygen storage facilities and multiplied cylinder stocks at the most affected hospitals.”
Graham noted that another shipment of cylinders arrived in Jamaica yesterday to further boost inventory in hospitals that rely heavily on them.
“Relationships have been established with several overseas partners to be better able to respond to possible future spikes in demand and offset supply chain disruptions.”
Up to Monday, 311 persons were in hospital with COVID-19, with 24 being moderately ill and 29 critically ill.
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