The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Diana Atwiine has commended the   Private sector in supporting government towards the production of Medical Oxygen which is an essential medicine according to World Health Organization (WHO)

At the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Oxygen Production plant (120 cylinder per day) at Nsambya, Atwiine in her speech read by Dr. Aggrey Batesaaki the commissioner in charge of Inspection standards at Ministry of Health, noted that the recent Covid19 crisis with majority of the victims requiring oxygen which was not available, taught this country a big lesson.

“The medical oxygen need is undeniable so this is indeed in the right direction, in line with National priorities.  During the COVID-19 Pandemic, there were concerns on the quality of some of the Oxygen that was in circulation. I am glad to learn that the Oxylife Oxygen Plant, whose Construction we are all here to inaugurate, assures the best quality oxygen fit for human consumption.”

The PS also noted that Oxylife Investment is in line with the 2018-2022 National Scale Up of Medical Oxygen Implementation Plan which encourages Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to meet the Increased medical oxygen demand expected to surpass the current generation capacity from 2022 onwards.

“In a bid to scale up oxygen production, Ministry of Health is in the process of upgrading the oxygen production capacity and oxygen therapy apparatus in the Public Sector at the Regional Referral Hospitals and a back-up plant at National Medical Store.”

She further asked Ugandans to continue observing SOPs and assured them that even if the Covid pandemic is to hit again the country, the Government with partners like  Joint Medical Store and Oxylife are doing everything possible to avail in large quantities quality medical oxygen to all those that may  need it.

Dr Bildard Baguma the Executive Director of JMS revealed that they decided to engage in local medical Oxygen Manufacturers following numerous challenges they faced in the previous lock down.

“Being a key health commodity supply chain player, we were under immense pressure at the peak of COVID-19 to supply medical oxygen all round. It was overwhelming demand. More so, when the first world countries restricted export of health supplies from their manufacturing plants to the rest of the world, JMS picked a lesson to focus on local health commodity production.”

He further promised that with such partnerships and with support from Ministry of Health and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) they expect to come up with more ventures that put quality and value at the fore front.

This Plant which is valued at 2 million Dollars will commence operations in February 2022.