August 18, 2023
One Health Trust’s Dr. Deepshikha Batheja co-authored a new study that aimed to evaluate the benefits of increased availability of oxygenation devices during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. A total of 450 healthcare facilities in India that received oxygen concentrators (OCs) during the second wave of COVID-19 were surveyed to understand perceptions of the effects of OCs on oxygen demand, the expected capacity increase due to improved supplemental oxygen access, and the expected reduced workload on healthcare staff. Over half of the surveyed facilities reported that the distribution of OCs helped them meet their patients’ oxygen demand, with 67 percent of private hospitals and 64 percent of COVID care facilities noting short-term benefits of OC provision. An increase in trained staff improved the facilities’ ability to provide patients with oxygen and helped them meet oxygen demands. Furthermore, 53 percent of the participating facilities expected their capacity to admit patients with non-COVID-related illnesses to increase in the long term. Regarding reduced staff workload, approximately a quarter of the facilities reported the benefits of oxygenation devices in the long run.
Overall, the study’s findings indicate that training staff and providing oxygenation devices on a timely basis can help maximize their utility and allow healthcare facilities to address oxygen demands.
Read the full article, published in PLOS Global and Public Health, here.
