(CNS): The Health Services Authority (HSA) has installed a new on-site medical-grade oxygen generator at the Cayman Islands Hospital, which will save the authority over $150,000 per year, officials said. The generator also addresses a potential national security risk associated with insufficient local medical oxygen caused by disruptions to international supply chains.

The emergence of COVID-19 has led to global shortages, instances of price gouging and an increase in black markets. This has created scarcity and delayed access in many jurisdictions.

“Medical oxygen has become one of the most important life-saving commodities in the fight against COVID-19,” HSA CEO Lizzette Yearwood said. “Statistics show that approximately 20% of patients who are treated for symptoms of COVID-19 will require oxygen therapy to prevent respiratory failure. Pure oxygen is also an essential resource in our operating room for procedures requiring anesthesia and in the intensive care and neonatal units.”

Before the installation of the new oxygen generator, the HSA sourced medical-grade oxygen through a local vendor. But the new generator will provide a regular discharge flow rate of 2,100 lbs per day, or 500 litres per minute, of medical-grade oxygen.

Officials said the manufacturing company has a long waiting list of states and countries seeking to procure their own oxygen generator but due to the fast action of the HSA and its partners, the authority secured the plant and ensured its arrival and installation in a timely manner.

HSA Board Chair Osbourne Bodden said the pandemic has highlighted the need for Cayman, as an isolated location, to be self-sufficient with patient care, operational efficiency and financial sustainability. “The installation of this oxygen generator builds further resiliency in the operation of our main hospital and will help to keep our people safe,” he added.

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I remember some years ago there were a slew of infections among HSA surgery patients. It was later discovered that the AC air handler and ducts serving the operating theatres were contaminated with bacteria. I don’t believe CIG revealed the amount of $$$ they “quietly” paid to affected surgical patients.

The word on the street was – poor maintenance.

Hope the oxygen generator system doesn’t suffer the same fate at any point!

Good for HSA. Feel a little sorry for the private company who just lost the contract. Thanks to them for years of solid service. (As an occasional customer.) But good for HSA. Always better to manage your own critical equipment/material yourself as much as you can.

Absolutely, this is an organization owned by the people of the Cayman Islands so their efforts to save money and keep citizens safer will benefit all of us. Let’s encourage it.

That depends how much it cost.

Why do I get the feeling there are a couple of civil servants sneaking around this thread blowing their own trumpet. Come on then, come clean, how much did this “investment” cost?

Hmmm tells you how much it will save but doesn’t mention cost… alarm bells are ringing!

So long as they know how to service it. I wandered around the hospital last year looking for the cafe and came accross a building crammed with all sorts of medical equipment, a lot of it looking quite new, dumped there I believe as there was no-one to repair it.

Not many places you can get a good service around here but there are a few…

Can we get an on-site medical cannabis generator now too?

Why? Those most likely to need it don’t deserve it.

This is a good result. Congratulations to whomever at the HSA made this happen.

Anything that decreases our reliance on external suppliers is a positive step. Leave aside the usual criticisms of the HSA for the moment and let’s be pleased that this has been accomplished. It’s fine to criticize (and there are plenty of opportunities for that) but when something good happens it’s also important to acknowledge it.

Thank you, this world is just full of armchair critics, criticize when it is deserved, but give credit when credit is due

Naive optimism vs. realistic skepticism

It’s frankly terrifying that a critical analysis of HSA’s oxygenation capacity, as part of a basic review of emergency capacity preparations for reopening, was conducted so late in this game. We have been exceedingly fortunate that this capacity failure wasn’t revealed through a tragic death count.

For comparison, Bermuda ordered and received their O2 units in August 2020:

https://www.royalgazette.com/health/news/article/20200806/hospital-prepares-with-oxygenator/

You’re assuming that they can now produce more oxygen than the private company could. I suspect this isn’t a capacity issue, rather its cost. With them using more oxygen now its become financially viable to make their own rather than buy from an external source.

Will they sell the excess capacity to the private sector, including the dive industry, and offer it to neighboring countries, so we can really maximize our returns?

The O2 generator produces Gaseous O2 not compressed air which dive tanks use. This machine is intended to supply a manifold which feeds into the hospital’s current system. It is a support system and not a system meant to produce to export.

How long before it craps out through lack of or uncertified maintenance?

Saved 144 minutes of the government payroll.

Just like the Jean-Michel Jarre song.

26 @ 7:47pm – Wasn’t that “Oxygene”? Perhaps The Sweet “Life is like Oxygen”?

If you are going to be pedantic, Oxygène is oxygen in French – he is French, after all.

Slow clap. Timely = a year behind Bermuda, and other islands, in year 3 of a respiratory pandemic.

Well done HSA, great investment 👏👏

That depends how much it cost!

6.46pm They said exactly the same thing about the weather radar station, which seems to conk out every time it rains. Then the Met chief takes 3 months to diagnose the problem and another two to order the “part”.

And it is still down!

Perhaps you should FOI the actual basic engineering qualifications of staff and you will get your answer.

I missed the part where they say this will cover all their oxygen needs, and how much it cost.

8yrs after Health City proved the Oxygen generator is the way forward.

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