IIT-Kanpur Study Shows 10-15% Oxygen Wasted In Hospitals During Second Wave In Uttar Pradesh

It is not unknown that India faced a severe oxygen crisis during the second wave of the Pandemic. Now a study led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur claims that around 10-15 per cent oxygen wastage could have been avoided by hospitals during the second wave in Uttar Pradesh.

Results from the study

The study was conducted in 57 medical colleges across the state and found that wrong use of oxygen-related equipment and leakage from oxygen masks or nozzles. The study mentions that this wastage could have been avoided if the medical staff was more careful. This research was conducted by the institute after being asked by the UP government.

The IIT-Kanpur Deputy Director Manindra Agarwal in a report by The Indian Express, mentions that this was a collaborative effort and the report has been sent to the state government.

IIT-K was involved with the development of the portal, data entry, and analysis, several other institutes like SGPGI in Lucknow, HBTU, AKTU, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) contributed to data collection. He adds that the data was collected daily from the 57 medical colleges for nearly 45 days, starting from May 3 this year.

"After the state government asked us to conduct the study, a portal was developed by our Computer Science Department. The medical colleges were told to upload data of the number of patients, oxygen requirement based on the patient's condition, and the oxygen used on the portal on a daily basis. The medical colleges were also uploading data on the number of patients in ICU or on ventilator support," Agarwal added in the report. A comparative study proved that nearly 20 per cent of the hospitals were wasting a significant amount of liquid medical oxygen.

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