Scaling up medical oxygen in the Pacific: Life-saving oxygen plant now operational in Kiritimati

Photo credi: © WHO/Stefan Adriaensens. Retrieved from reliefweb.int

An oxygen plant – a key for supplying life-saving medical oxygen to patients, who suffer from COVID-19, pneumonia or other respiratory diseases – is now operational in Kiritimati, one of the world’s largest and most remote atolls in the Pacific region with thanks to funding support from the European Union (EU).

As of July, the oxygen plant in Kiritimati can fill up to 24 oxygen cylinders with medical oxygen in 24 hours. This means, that the facility can now support four patients with severe COVID-19 simultaneously, providing much-needed relief to the local healthcare system.

Until July, the Kiritimati community living on the island had limited access to medical oxygen, particularly in the case of a surge in need. For approximately 6500 people, the hospital in Kiritimati relied on shipments by sea of cylinders from the closest medical plant at the national referral hospital in South Tarawa, more than 3320 km.