Gaschema Supplied Medical Oxygen to Kėdainiai Hospital

Since November, Kėdainiai Hospital has become a COVID-19 support hospital, where serious patients from Kaunas county are delivered. With the number of severe coronavirus patients increasing daily, the consumption of medical oxygen in the hospital has increased tenfold.

To ensure the uninterrupted supply to COVID-19 patients, a 10 cubic metre temporary medical oxygen tank was built adjacent to the hospital building. An unconventional solution – the oxygen tank supported on a mobile foundation – was utilised for the project.

Traditionally, Kėdainiai Hospital uses smaller medical oxygen cylinders and part of the oxygen required is produced by the oxygen generator. However, this amount is no longer sufficient to treat patients.

“Since this autumn, we have been providing the hospital with medical oxygen in bundles. A bundle consists of twelve 50-liter oxygen cylinders. However, even this quantity soon became insufficient and had to be tripled. For a while, this solution saved the day. But this month, the situation has changed dramatically, with the demand for medical oxygen rising almost daily. That is why the decision was made to build a mobile medical oxygen tank. It will allow more efficient use of funds and staff time. Most importantly, it will be possible to ensure the supply of medical oxygen to patients at this very difficult time,” said Valdemaras Vareika, General Manager of UAB Gaschema, which is implementing the project.

According to V. Vareika, the project involved the use of a non-standard solution – a mobile foundation to house the tank.

“Such projects usually take several months to complete – to sort out the paperwork, to order equipment, to cast foundation, etc. Yet, now we all need to do more, shoulder to shoulder. We were looking for out-of-the-box solutions and the oxygen tank was built on a mobile foundation. This saved precious time, because the time saved now means lives saved,” he said.

The medical oxygen supply system has integrated telemetry equipment that allows remote monitoring of the medical oxygen balance in the tank and rapid refilling.

This is the second mobile tank of this type built during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of November, a similar project was implemented at the Panevėžys Republican Infectious Diseases Hospital. A 6 cubic metre temporary medical oxygen tank was built there.