The country is running low on quality medical gas cylinders, says Kagwe

The Ministry of Health is now seeking to increase the capacity of gas cylinders required to care for Covid-19 patients.

In a press briefing on, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the country is running low on quality cylinders in health facilities.

“We need to increase the infrastructure for piping in hospitals. We are asking our facilities, both county and national facilities to fast track the piping of oxygen to bed outlets,” he said.

He asked doctors heading hospitals to quickly work on repairs of the concentrators to be used for home based care and hospitals.

“We have about 70 oxygen plants in Kenya which are in dis repair and they need to be repaired,” he added.

He urged those using cylinders for non-covid care to surrender them immediately.

“I don’t think people are appreciating just how important it is that we don’t just have cylinders lying around when people are dying because of lack of oxygen” Kagwe said.

He noted that there are facilities that are using cylinders per patient which should not be the case.

According to Kagwe, one cylinder can be used by a number of people if the oxygen is piped to the bedsides.

“We have around 70 oxygen plants in Kenya and most of them are in despair. We need them to get working,” he said.

However, Kagwe noted that most of the plants cannot be repaired in time since their sources are suspect.

Going forward, the Ministry of Health working with the county governments will ensure standardization of oxygen plants.

“It is not just enough that we produce oxygen, the purity and quality are very important,” he said.

121 patients are in the Intensive Care Unit with 32 on ventilatory support, 82 on supplemental oxygen.