Oxygen concentrators sent to help hospitals in India

Three of eight oxygen concentrators specially assembled in Northern Ireland at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s first wave have recently been flown to India on an Antonov An-124, one of the world's largest cargo planes, in order to help hospitals struggling with oxygen supply as the number of cases in the Asian country surges. Nigel Keery, Eur.Eng, FIHEEM, Head of Estates Operations at Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, which manufactured and assembled the concentrators for use by the Trust and other healthcare providers in the region, explained to HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, how he and colleague, George McCracken MIHEEM, a number of fellow healthcare engineering professionals, and several specialist sub-contractors, masterminded the preparation and transport of three of the units housed in 40ft containers to Belfast International Airport for dispatch to Delhi.

The eight oxygen concentrators – Nigel Keery explained when I spoke to him by phone on the Monday 10 May following the departure of three to Delhi – were originally ordered for Northern Ireland’s Department of Health (Health and Social Care Northern Ireland – HSCNI). The Belfast Health & Social Care Trust Estates & Facilities team made the decision to manufacture its own concentrators at the behest of HSCNI after ‘weaknesses in oxygen delivery and infrastructure’ had been identified at a number of hospitals in the region last Spring following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. As Head of Estates Operations at the Trust, Nigel Keery and the staff reporting to him have overall responsibility for estates and engineering activities at a number of hospitals and other healthcare facilities across Belfast – the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast City Hospital, the Mater Infirmorum Hospital, Musgrave Park Hospital, Muckamore Abbey Hospital, Knockbracken Healthcare Park, and North & West and South & East Belfast community and social care facilities. “In fact,” he explained, “about 50 per cent of Northern Ireland’s healthcare estate comes under the auspices of Belfast Health & Social Care Trust.” 

Joint decision