Lekma Hospital receives first locally produced liquid medical oxygen

Lekma Hospital has received the first locally produced liquid medical oxygen supply from Indo-Ghana Industries Limited as the company begins supplying liquid oxygen to hospitals in Ghana.

The development marks a shift from the traditional use of oxygen cylinders to a storage-based system that allows hospitals to store larger quantities of medical oxygen and distribute it through their existing oxygen networks.

A cryogenic storage system has been installed at Lekma Hospital to receive, store and distribute the liquid oxygen to the facility’s wards.

Managing Director of Indo-Ghana Industries, Varun Tyagi, said the move is intended to address some of the challenges associated with transporting and distributing oxygen in cylinders.

“Over the years, one of the biggest challenges when it comes to distribution of oxygen is that the packaging material, the cylinders, are much more expensive than the product itself. In Africa, distribution costs are too high,” he said.

Indo-Ghana, which began operations in Ghana in 2010, initially focused on producing and supplying gaseous oxygen. The company later expanded into liquid oxygen production after distribution challenges became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for medical oxygen increased.

Tyagi said the cylinder-based system required hospitals to regularly request refills, with transportation challenges sometimes affecting timely delivery.

Under the liquid oxygen system, hospitals can store larger quantities on site. The company said a single storage tank can hold the equivalent of about 1,000 cylinders of gaseous oxygen.

“At Lekma, the quantity of liquid that we supplied can sustain them for a period of at least three months. They can now be assured that for the next three months they have oxygen available in their facility,” Tyagi said.

He said support from development partners, including USAID, CHAI and JHPIEGO, has helped provide liquid oxygen storage tanks to about 10 hospitals, while another five facilities have received similar support through other programmes.

This brings to about 15 the number of hospitals equipped to receive liquid oxygen, he said.

Lekma Hospital’s Head of Clinical Engineering, Saviour Demordzie, said the new system has reduced the facility’s reliance on oxygen cylinders and provided a more stable supply.

“Our frequent calls for oxygen have reduced. There is a constant pressure and flow of oxygen at the facility. And because it is a liquid oxygen plant, we have a higher purity of oxygen delivered to the patient,” he said.

Demordzie said the hospital previously relied largely on oxygen cylinders, creating uncertainty when supplies were running low.

“Initially, you had to call vendors when the oxygen was finishing, and if you were not fortunate, the unfortunate could happen,” he said.

He said the hospital’s previous oxygen systems produced oxygen concentration levels of between 90% and 92%, while liquid oxygen provides purity closer to 99%.

Indo-Ghana Engineer, Eduardo Bojador Bonifacio, said the system also reduces manual handling in supplying oxygen to wards.

“This one can save time and minimise human error in supplying oxygen to patients,” he said.

Indo-Ghana currently produces about 10 tonnes of liquid oxygen per day at its facility at the Apollonia Industrial Enclave and plans to increase production capacity.

Tyagi said the company is considering a hub-and-spoke distribution system, with liquid oxygen produced at central facilities and distributed through smaller filling stations closer to hospitals.

“The idea is not just to limit it to one hospital. If there is a hospital in Yendi or any other part of Ghana, we want to supply through regional hubs so that the distance reduces and dependency reduces,” he said.

However, he identified delayed payments from some hospitals, high electricity costs and limited access to long-term financing as challenges facing medical oxygen production.

According to Tyagi, electricity accounts for between 42% and 45% of production costs.

He called for oxygen producers to be treated as critical service providers during power disruptions.

“Medical oxygen production falls under critical industry. There should be provisions to ensure that if there is any power reduction or outage, companies producing oxygen are informed early and arrangements are made so that they are not disconnected,” he said.

Indo-Ghana is also engaging with the Ministry of Health following the introduction of a national medical oxygen policy, which Tyagi said could improve monitoring of oxygen consumption and supply planning.

He said telemetry systems installed on some storage tanks would allow hospitals to monitor oxygen consumption and plan for periods of higher demand.

Source: thebftonline.com
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