IIT Kanpur study documents oxygen wastage by hospitals in Uttar Pradesh during May

Kanpur's premier technology institute, the IIT has drafted a report to the state government of UP, regarding the oxygen usage and wastage in hospitals across various hospitals during May. This study inspected the supply and consumption of medical grade oxygen in a pool of 52 health facilities in the state. Of these, 10 were claimed to have used more oxygen than that required by each patient here.

IIT Kanpur details the supply, consumption, & excessive use of O2

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The second wave of the coronavirus highlighted the gaps in the medical infrastructure, enunciating a colossal liquid medical oxygen shortage in UP and across. While the state governments and local administration buckled up to bridge these infrastructure gaps, an IIT Kanpur study dwells on the retrospect of oxygen consumption by 52 hospitals across UP in May, highlighting their conscious usage of the essential supply.

According to the team at IIT, a list of hospitals, largely consisting of state-run centres, were provided LMO by the government. These were put under the lens of scrutiny to chart their oxygen supply management during the peak of the second wave. The research team gathered information about the different kinds of instruments, equipment and models used by the hospitals to facilitate the amount and supply of oxygen- by tracking the number of COVID patients on oxygen support.

High Flow Nasal Cannula usage caused maximum O2 wastage

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The data recovered was used to conduct a comparative study against the standard usage, to mark the institutes where the consumption was excessive. Professor Manindra Agrawal, Deputy Director of IIT Kanpur, who was heading the study, said, "There are different kinds of equipment for oxygen supply - various kinds of masks and ventilators. All of these have standard consumption rates. We compared these standards with the average daily consumption in these hospitals and found that 10 hospitals had been using excessive amounts. We have submitted the findings to the state to take further corrective steps."

Here, the IIT team further concluded that the maximum wastage was caused while using the High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC). "The study did not mention reasons for the wastage and it needs to be investigated further. However, the wastage could be because of leakage, if the mask is not adjusted properly and has been left unmonitored," said Agrawal.