The best solution to solve the oxygen crisis in hospitals is the use of industrial oxygen for COVID patients, Florin Cîțu said on Thursday.
The Prime Minister met on Thursday with oxygen producers and DSU representatives. He asked for a mechanism to be put in place to provide hospitals with two or even three sources of oxygen.
“We have identified some solutions to solve the oxygen crisis in hospitals. Following discussions with oxygen producers and representatives of the DSU (Department for Emergency Situations), we have determined that the best measure is the possibility of using industrial oxygen in COVID patients, and since storage and distribution is currently the big problem, we have identified a solution here as well. The details will be given by the specialists, once all the technical elements have been established”, says Florin Cîțu.
The interim Prime Minister said that in order to prevent problems in the future with the supply of oxygen in the medical system, he had asked for a mechanism to be put in place to provide hospitals with two or even three sources of oxygen.
“As is natural to have back-up solutions, given that many health facilities currently have only one source. I thank the oxygen producers for their efforts during this period, for their openness and proposals,” concludes Cîțu.
One thing I’ve noticed is that some sources of things in shortage *could* probably be provided in much greater quantity, if the need is great enough to warrant relaxing standards for medical-grade or food-grade material.
Two examples:
**Carbon dioxide**.
There have been articles about the UK having a shortage of food-grade carbon-dioxide…but you can dig up non-food-grade if the need were critical enough and the costs of not having it severe-enough.
**Ethanol**
Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was some discussion about ramping up hand santitizer and other ethanol-based stuff.
The US produces enormous amounts of ethanol — [a majority of the global ethanol production](https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10331), and could singlehandedly provide every person in the world with about eight liters of ethanol a year from existing production — far more than would ever be needed as a sanitizer. However, it mostly uses that ethanol as a fuel additive, which means that the supply chain isn’t certified for food-grade stuff. Presently, hand santitizers require food-grade ethanol be used. However, when there was discussion of a shortage, some manufacturers were proposing lifting the restriction for the duration.
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**translation**
The best solution to solve the oxygen crisis in hospitals is the use of industrial oxygen for COVID patients, Florin Cîțu said on Thursday.
The Prime Minister met on Thursday with oxygen producers and DSU representatives. He asked for a mechanism to be put in place to provide hospitals with two or even three sources of oxygen.
“We have identified some solutions to solve the oxygen crisis in hospitals. Following discussions with oxygen producers and representatives of the DSU (Department for Emergency Situations), we have determined that the best measure is the possibility of using industrial oxygen in COVID patients, and since storage and distribution is currently the big problem, we have identified a solution here as well. The details will be given by the specialists, once all the technical elements have been established”, says Florin Cîțu.
The interim Prime Minister said that in order to prevent problems in the future with the supply of oxygen in the medical system, he had asked for a mechanism to be put in place to provide hospitals with two or even three sources of oxygen.
“As is natural to have back-up solutions, given that many health facilities currently have only one source. I thank the oxygen producers for their efforts during this period, for their openness and proposals,” concludes Cîțu.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
One thing I’ve noticed is that some sources of things in shortage *could* probably be provided in much greater quantity, if the need is great enough to warrant relaxing standards for medical-grade or food-grade material.
Two examples:
**Carbon dioxide**.
There have been articles about the UK having a shortage of food-grade carbon-dioxide…but you can dig up non-food-grade if the need were critical enough and the costs of not having it severe-enough.
**Ethanol**
Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was some discussion about ramping up hand santitizer and other ethanol-based stuff.
The US produces enormous amounts of ethanol — [a majority of the global ethanol production](https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10331), and could singlehandedly provide every person in the world with about eight liters of ethanol a year from existing production — far more than would ever be needed as a sanitizer. However, it mostly uses that ethanol as a fuel additive, which means that the supply chain isn’t certified for food-grade stuff. Presently, hand santitizers require food-grade ethanol be used. However, when there was discussion of a shortage, some manufacturers were proposing lifting the restriction for the duration.