I am sure that here there are higher education institutions that can create oxygen concentrators as soon as possible since that does not require high (sophisticated) technologyJakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, has urged higher education institutions in Indonesia to make immediate efforts to produce oxygen concentrators, which are urgently needed amid the current COVID-19 surge.
“I am sure that here there are higher education institutions that can create oxygen concentrators as soon as possible since that does not require high (sophisticated) technology,” the minister stated in a press release received here on Wednesday.
The government is striving to resolve the lack of oxygen for handling COVID-19 patients, he pointed out. It is not only pushing the industry, but also higher education institutions to optimize oxygen production in a bid to meet the health sector’s needs, he emphasized.
East Java Deputy Governor Emil Dardak has contacted a number of higher education institutions in the province, especially those with a technical faculty, and asked them to produce oxygen concentrators, Effendy informed.
An oxygen concentrator can convert air into medical oxygen, with a saturation level of above 93 percent, once it is plugged directly to an electric current, he explained.
Oxygen concentrators that higher education institutions create can help boost precautionary measures against oxygen supply shortage not only among hospitals, but also COVID-19 patients undergoing self-isolation, Effendy said.
"The condition in East Java is relatively good, the problem now is how to assure them, who are conducting self-isolation and needing the oxygen, can be well-handled," he remarked.
He also urged people who have bought oxygen cylinders and are storing them at home to share them with neighbors undergoing self-isolation who may also need them. He also asked people to return empty cylinders quickly.
“Do not stock it since it will cause shortages of oxygen cylinders. We know that we cannot directly supply the hospitals with liquid oxygen carried by big tankers, but use the small cylinders. If it disappears from markets, it will make the condition even harder,” he said.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus/ Juwita Trisna Ra
Editor: Sri Haryati
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