From air lifting oxygen generator plant to flying 120-tonne of zeolite (the main component for Oxygen concentration) from Germany by Air Force, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) is helping out State governments in setting up oxygen plants in various hospitals over the last one month, and by June it is increasing the number to 150 plants from 70 right now.

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, the company has been helping hospitals in Delhi-NCR and Gujarat in providing oxygen plants, since the second wave of Covid-19 hit the country.

“Maruti Suzuki decided to involve itself in scaling up production of Oxygen generators by small scale units to help overcome the critical shortage of oxygen. We have, in less than a month, increased output levels by more than 10 times,” R C Bhargava, Chairman, MSIL, said.

He said instead of hospitals procuring Oxygen cylinders from various places, it was advisable to set up these in-house Oxygen generators, which save costs.

Also read: Vaccination drive: Corporates provide a smoother route

“We think that Oxygen Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) generators provide Oxygen at significantly lower cost, avoid the high cost of transporting Oxygen and reduce consumption of fuel. Government and hospitals need to study this option carefully for the future,” Bhargava said.

Setting up of such an Oxygen plant costs around ₹70 lakh and has a high flow rate of 500 litres per minute or one-tonne per day, the company informed.

Speaking to mediapersons, a company spokesperson said that considering the time taken for transportation and losses during the process, it is inefficient and suboptimal. Hence, for medium size to big hospitals, it may be a better idea to have these Oxygen generator plants installed to avoid shortage and build efficiency.

The company however, also noted that in its efforts to mitigate Oxygen shortage, MSIL has donated 500 oxygen cylinders sourced from local vendors to Delhi-NCR and while another 500 are being imported from Japan which are to be donated by parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) to the government.

SMC is also donating an Oxygen generator plant from Japan to the hospital set up in Sitapur, Gujarat, in partnership with Zydus Hospitals.

Also read: Maruti, Toyota, M&M remain bullish on long-term growth of used car business

For the Oxygen plants, MSIL has partnered with Airox Nigen Equipments, SAM Gas Products and Gaskon Engineers to increase production of oxygen PSA generators. “Oxygen generator production was increased 10 times from one plant in five days to two plants a day through two of these partners within a month,” the spokesperson said.

When asked about other categories such as medicines or injections, the spokesperson said that MSIL was open to the idea, but that was something everybody can do. “We thought we should do something which is difficult for others and where we could use our learning and our manufacturing expertise to Oxygen seem to be the largest need,” he added.

Related Topics