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Zambian Government has started building an oxygen pressure swing absorption plant in Kitwe at US$1.7 billion. The oxygen plant is set to produce about 6,000 litres of oxygen per day to respond to the rising demand. Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo said construction of the oxygen plant will assist reinforce measures to advance medical services.
The oxygen plant will receive financial support from the Swedish government and the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The establishment of the oxygen plant will help make gas more accessible to people in need of oxygen. “Government with help from stakeholders will build capacity in health workers to ensure safe admission of the oxygen to patients,” Ms Masebo said. The government requests cooperating partners to contribute in supporting the National Medical Oxygen Strategic plan to achieve better results.
Uses of Oxygen in healthcare
Presence of oxygen in health facilities is vital as it helps to save lives, especially for children. Additionally, oxygen is an essential medicine used to care for patients at all levels of the healthcare system. This includes oxygen use in surgery, trauma, heart failure, asthma, pneumonia and maternal surgeries. Additionally, pneumonia alone accounts for 800,000 deaths per year, worldwide, which could be stopped by the accessibility of oxygen treatment.
Moreover, hyperbaric oxygen chambers are used to treat conditions such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression illness, and non-healing wounds. In the chamber, patients are exposed to 100 percent oxygen at a pressure that is three times higher than normal. Therefore, this helps to increase the amount of oxygen in the blood, which can help to speed up the healing process.
Oxygen therapy is a common treatment which is used to increase the supply of oxygen to the body. It can be administered through a face mask, nasal cannula, ventilator, or an oxygen concentrator. |
