A plant generating 1,000 litres of oxygen every minute, this is the feat that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has achieved with its newly installed oxygen plant at AIIMS, New Delhi.

By the end of this week, Delhi is likely to have five such oxygen plants.

For the last three weeks, oxygen has arguably been the most sought-after commodity in Delhi. With Covid-19 cases exploding in the city, hospitals have run out beds and medical oxygen to treat patients.

Several patients have died gasping for breath and hospitals have had to run to courts to request emergency supply of medical oxygen. The supply comes, but often it is too little and too late.

The situation is such that the Delhi government has requested the Centre to deploy the Indian Army to handle the situation.

However, the armed forces have already started helping the civil administration in Covid management by setting up dedicated hospitals in the city.

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On its part, the DRDO is setting up oxygen plants at hospitals across the country to make them self-reliant for medical oxygen. The target is to install 500 plants in the next three months.

The oxygen plants installed at AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi will produce 1,000 litres of oxygen every minute and support 195 patients every day. This plant can refill 195 cylinders can be filled 150 times per day.

The medical oxygen plant works on a technology that is based on the on-board oxygen generation for light combat Tejas aircraft developed by DRDO.

Speaking to India Today TV, Devender Sharma, a scientist at DRDO, said, "The idea is to reduce dependence of hospital on oxygen suppliers. With the help of these plants, hospitals can now make their own oxygen. The plant uses air from the atmosphere and converts it into oxygen 24x7. This will help in reducing the burden on hospitals and save lives."

Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the target of installing 500 plants across the country, and DRDO "firmly believes" in achieving it.

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"We are confident that we will be able to install 500 such plants in hospitals across the country in the next three months," he said.

Dr Reddy explained that once hospitals get these plants up and running, they will be able to treat Covid-19 patients much better. "We are innovating technology to help as many patients as possible. At the end of the day, all this is being done for the citizens."

On Tuesday, the defence ministry said the oxygen plants will be installed at AIIMS Trauma Centre, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College and one at AIIMS, Jhajjar, Haryana.

On April 28, the DRDO had announced that it will set up 500 medical oxygen plants within the next three months from the allocation made by the PM-Cares Fund. The DRDO said it had transferred its medical oxygen plant (MOP) technology -- developed for on-board oxygen generation in Tejas fighter jet -- to Trident as well as Bengaluru-based Tata Advanced Systems Limited so that these two companies can set up a total 380 out of 500 plants.

Trident and Tata will install 48 and 332 plants, respectively, it had said.

Remaining 120 plants will be set up by industries working with the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun.

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