Meghalaya, 22nd June 2021: Uttam Group of Companies, a multinational industry leader in Energy and Healthcare, in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has set up three new oxygen plants in Meghalaya including Civil Hospital, Tura; Civil Hospital, Nongpoh; and Civil Hospital, Jowai.
All this while Hospitals were dependet on oxygen supply by the external sources & logestic management has been a challenge , These plants installation will make the hospitals self reliant & will ease the oxygen shortage faced by hospitals during the pandemic , It’s a step closer to the preparation for the widely anticipated third wave of the pandemic warned by health authorities. Uttam Group has been working closely with UNDP for timely installation of these plants and will continue to maintain them.
Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, addressed the audience and spoke about the integrated COVID-19 response of UNDP and Uttam Group. The prediction of a third wave and has already raised a red flag for the country and in response to the unprecedented situation, Uttam Group has already installed 50 plus plants in India and further planned to set up more oxygen generation plants in different cities to ease the oxygen crisis.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Mr Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister, Meghalaya, H.E. Mr Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to India, Mr Ram Singh, Deputy and Mr John Borgoyary, Regional Head, UNDP.
Meghalaya has a mountainous terrain and many sites were at a fair distance from the nearest major town/city. Preparing the site was one of the challenges but Uttam Group’s engineering and logistics teams along with UNDP staff executed these projects in less than two weeks. The oxygen plants installed in Tura has the production capacity of 1.1 ton per day.
Dr Manish Pant, Head Health & Governance, UNDP, said, “Installing oxygen generation plant is a crucial project, as we should be better prepared for the third wave of the pandemic. Beyond COVID-19, the plants will continue to serve Meghalaya and the North East as a whole. We are thankful to the government of Japan for showing interest in Meghalaya and helping us build these oxygen plants that will serve as a ray of hope to Meghalayan people.”
Speaking on the event, Mr Conrad K. Sangma, Chief Minister, Meghalaya, said, “I thank UNDP, the Japanese government and his Excellency for their contribution and support for Meghalaya has received in this crisis. The Indian government has always shown a desire to work with Japan and at this difficult time, we are finding innovative ways to help each other. The healthcare scenario in India is very challenging due to COVID-19 but with mutual effort, we can face the situation strongly.”
Mr Karan Bhatia, CEO, Uttam Group, said: “I am thankful for the support that Uttam Group of companies has received from the Indian authorities and international agencies. The hospital infrastructure in India is majorly dependent on external sources for oxygen supply and there is an urgent need for in-house oxygen generation units in hospitals. These three plants will make the hospitals self-reliant for their oxygen requirement during the current health crisis.”
