To meet the acute shortage of medical oxygen in the country, fertiliser companies would be putting plants for producing 50 tonnes of oxygen in the coming days, a meeting chaired by Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, told, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

At the meeting, many fertiliser firms in public, private and cooperative sectors promised to reorient their existing capacity of oxygen production and augment the supply of medical grade oxygen to hospitals.

India’s biggest fertiliser firm IFFCO said it was setting an oxygen plant with 200 cubic metre per hour capacity at its Kalol unit in Gujarat, talking their total oxygen production capacity to 33,000 cubic metres per day. IFFCO has already promised to set up similar plants in its other units in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly state-owned Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GSFC), said it has made slight modification in its plants for producing liquid oxygen and started supplying oxygen already to hospitals. It also plans to enhance its oxygen production capacity. Similarly, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals, a joint venture of GSFC, said it also started supplying liquid oxygen for medical purposes after setting air separation unit.

The other fertilizer companies, participated in the meeting, too said they will set up medical plants in hospitals/plants at selected locations in the country through CSR funding.

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