Indian Navy provides ‘Oxygen on Wheels’ to Palasa COVID care centre

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Indian Navy (IN) is working tirelessly to provide logistic support to shore up medical supplies to tackle the current Covid-19 situation in the country. Now, the Indian Navy has provided an ‘Oxygen on Wheels’ plant to Palasa COVID Care Centre on May 21 in response to a request from Srikakulam District Collector J Niwas. Seediri Appalaraju, Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development & Fisheries, formally inaugurated the ‘Oxygen on Wheels’ built by Naval Dockyard at the Palasa, Covid Care Centre.

The Oxygen on Wheels has been connected with the Oxygen pipeline in the Covid Health Care Centre at Palasa by a team of specialists from Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam, and it supplies oxygen round the clock for up to 12 patients admitted in the hospital. The team also trained hospital staff in the operation of the plant.

On 20 May 21, Vice Admiral AB Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command ( ENC), officially unveiled ‘Oxygen on Wheels,’ a unique initiative launched by the Naval Dockyard in which a PSA Oxygen Plant was integrated on a mobile platform to support remote hospitals.

As part of the nation’s fight against COVID 19, seven Indian Naval ships under the operation Samudra Setu II- Kolkata, Kochi, Talwar, Tabar, Trikand, Jalashwa and Airavat have been deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment from various friendly countries. Last year, the Navy launched Operation Samudra Setu, which successfully repatriated about 4,000 Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries due to the COVID- 19 outbreak.

Medical personnel in the Navy have been redeployed at various hospitals in the country to manage Covid duties. Various initiatives have been taken by the Indian Navy to assist the countrymen during the pandemic.