Sittwe facility provides free medical oxygen as Covid’s third wave appears to recede

By DMG 10 Nov 2021

DMG Newsroom
10 November 2021, Sittwe 

People can get medical oxygen free of charge at the oxygen plant recently established in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, according to the plant’s organising committee. 

A ceremony to officially open the plant will be held this month, said U Tin Aung Oo, a member of the plant organising committee’s steering committee. 

“The machine to manufacture oxygen has not arrived yet. The plant is now operating with a small machine. When the large machine arrives, we will celebrate the opening ceremony of the plant,” he told DMG. 

The plant is producing enough oxygen for 180 40-litre cylinders a day at the moment, and it will manufacture 230 40-litre cylinders per day when the large machine arrives. 

“As the demand for oxygen was so high during the third wave of Covid-19, we planned to build an oxygen plant. Donors also contributed donations. As we decided initially, we will deliver oxygen free of charge in the first year,” said U Tin Aung Oo. 

The plant distributed 371 40-litre cylinders in Sittwe town and nearby townships between August and October. 

Demand for oxygen has decreased alongside steadily falling Covid-19 infection rates in Arakan State over recent weeks. 

Nonetheless, people need to adhere to Covid-19 prevention regulations, said Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Arakan State Public Health Department. 

“The demand for oxygen is lower as there are [currently] about 23 patients with Covid-19 infection. But it remains infectious. So, people need to wear masks, wash hands and stay six feet away from each other,” he said. 

U Min Hte Wah, chair of the Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation in Sittwe, said it is no longer difficult to get oxygen as self-help oxygen plants are being built in Arakan State, prompted by the pandemic’s third wave. 

“Previously, we had to buy oxygen from Monywa town and it cost K33,000 a cylinder. We do not need to buy at the moment,” he said. 

Self-help oxygen plants were built in Sittwe and other townships to address rising oxygen demand as the third wave spread across the state in June, July and August.