Within the next three months, the allocation provided by PM CARES Fund, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will set up 500 medical oxygen plants, said the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

On twitter Minister said that, “The Medical Oxygen Plant (MOP) technology developed by DRDO for on-board oxygen generation for light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas will now help in fighting the current crisis of oxygen for COVID-19 patients, the DRDO is going to set up 500 Medical Oxygen Plants within 3 months under PM CARES Fund.”

Also read: India has enough oxygen, but not transportation

The DRDO explained that transfer of Medical Oxygen Plant technology has been done to Bengaluru-based Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Coimbatore-based Trident Pneumatics and both the companies will set up in total 380 plants.

It said that moreover, 120 plants of 500 litres per minute capacity will be set up by industries working with the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. The Medical Oxygen Plant of the DRDO is designed to generate around 1,000 litres oxygen per minute, it noted. “The system caters for 190 patients at a flow rate of 5 litres per minute and can charge 195 cylinders per day,” it added.

India is continuously fighting with the high rising cases of coronavirus. Several states are under crisis due to the lack of medical and oxygen supplies. According to the list updated by Union Ministry of India, India saw a record single-day rise of 3,60,960 coronavirus cases, which pushed the total tally to 1,79,97,267, while the death toll crossed two lakh following 3,293 fresh fatalities.

Also read: COVID-19 vaccination in Delhi to anyone above 18 “free of cost”: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

For the past few days, India has been seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases. Delhi reported a record of 381 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded the highest amongst the time COVID-19 cases which piled up to 66,358.