Medical oxygen production company, Indo-Ghana Industries Limited ,has begun supplying locally produced liquid medical oxygen to Ghanaian hospitals, marking a shift in the country’s medical oxygen supply chain from cylinder-based distribution to a storage-based system designed to reduce shortages and improve reliability.
The company delivered the first made-in-Ghana liquid oxygen supply to the Lekma Hospital, Teshie, where a cryogenic storage system has been installed to receive, store and distribute the product through the facility’s oxygen network.
Challenges
The Managing Director of Indo-Ghana Industries, Varun Tyagi, said the move would address long-standing challenges associated with transporting medical oxygen in cylinders, including delays, high logistics costs and supply interruptions.
“Over the years, one of the biggest challenges when it comes to distribution of oxygen is that the packaging material, the cylinders, are much more expensive than the product itself.
In Africa, distribution costs are too high,” he said.
Indo-Ghana, which began operations in Ghana in 2010, initially focused on the production and supply of gaseous oxygen.
The company expanded into liquid oxygen production after identifying distribution constraints that became more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for medical oxygen increased sharply.
Mr Tyagi explained that the cylinder-based model required hospitals to continuously request refills as empty cylinders were returned for replenishment, creating risks of delays caused by transportation challenges and road conditions.
“At Lekma, the quantity of liquid that we supplied can sustain them for a period of at least three months.
They can now be assured that for the next three months they have oxygen available in their facility,” Mr Tyagi said.
Indo-Ghana’s Engineer, Eduardo Bojador Bonifacio, said the new system would improve efficiency by reducing manual handling and allowing automated supply through pipelines connected to hospital wards.
Stable supplu
The Lekma’s Head of Clinical Engineering, Saviour Demordzie, said the new system had already improved oxygen availability at the facility by providing a more stable supply and reducing reliance on emergency cylinder deliveries.
“Our frequent calls for oxygen have reduced.
There is a constant pressure and flow of oxygen at the facility. And because it is a liquid oxygen plant, we have a higher purity of oxygen delivered to the patient,” he said.
Before the installation of the liquid oxygen system, Mr Demordzie said the hospital relied largely on oxygen cylinders, creating uncertainty when supplies ran low.
