People can get medical oxygen free of charge at the oxygen plant recently established in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, according to the plant’s organising committee.
A ceremony to officially open the plant will be held this month, said U Tin Aung Oo, a member of the plant organising committee’s steering committee.
“The machine to manufacture oxygen has not arrived yet. The plant is now operating with a small machine. When the large machine arrives, we will celebrate the opening ceremony of the plant,” he told DMG.
The plant is producing enough oxygen for 180 40-litre cylinders a day at the moment, and it will manufacture 230 40-litre cylinders per day when the large machine arrives.
“As the demand for oxygen was so high during the third wave of Covid-19, we planned to build an oxygen plant. Donors also contributed donations. As we decided initially, we will deliver oxygen free of charge in the first year,” said U Tin Aung Oo.
The plant distributed 371 40-litre cylinders in Sittwe town and nearby townships between August and October.
Demand for oxygen has decreased alongside steadily falling Covid-19 infection rates in Arakan State over recent weeks.
Nonetheless, people need to adhere to Covid-19 prevention regulations, said Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Public Health Department.
“The demand for oxygen is lower as there are [currently] about 23 patients with Covid-19 infection. But it remains infectious. So, people need to wear masks, wash hands and stay six feet away from each other,” he said.
U Min Hte Wah, chair of the Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation in Sittwe, said it is no longer difficult to get oxygen as self-help oxygen plants are being built in Arakan State, prompted by the pandemic’s third wave.
“Previously, we had to buy oxygen from Monywa town and it cost K33,000 a cylinder. We do not need to buy at the moment,” he said.
Self-help oxygen plants were built in Sittwe and other townships to address rising oxygen demand as the third wave spread across the state in June, July and August.
