Batheja Deepshikha, Kurian Vinith, Buteau Sharon, Joy Neetha, Nair Ajay
One Health Trust (Formerly CDDEP), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
LEAD at Krea University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023 Aug 17;3(8):e0002297. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002297. eCollection 2023.
There has been an unprecedented increase in global demand for medical oxygen equipment to solve the acute oxygen shortages caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study aims to assess the value of improved access and use of Oxygen Concentrators (OCs) and cylinders during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. This evaluation is relevant to strengthening health systems in many resource-constrained Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) settings. Using a Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) sampling method, primary surveys were conducted in 450 health facilities across 21 states in India. The primary outcomes measured were self-reported utility of oxygenation devices in meeting the oxygen demand in the short-run and long-run utility of devices compared to the pre-oxygen-devices-distribution-period. We perform bivariate and multivariate regression analyses. Around 53-54% of surveyed facilities reported that the distributed oxygenation devices helped meet oxygen demand in the short run and are expected to increase their long-run capacity to admit non-COVID patients with oxygen needs. The timely availability of technicians was associated with meeting oxygen demand using the additional oxygenation devices at the facilities. Facilities that increased the number of staff members who were able to administer oxygen devices were at higher odds of reducing the administrative load on their staff to organize oxygen support in the long run. Hospital infrastructure was also associated with long-run outcomes. We find that oxygenation devices such as cylinders and OCs were useful in addressing the oxygen demand during the COVID-19-related oxygen emergency. Overall production of oxygen to meet the demands and investments in training biomedical engineers/technicians to administer oxygen could help save lives.
为解决由SARS-CoV-2感染导致的急性氧气短缺问题，全球对医用氧气设备的需求出现了前所未有的增长。本研究旨在评估在印度新冠疫情期间改善制氧机和氧气瓶的获取与使用的价值。该评估对于加强许多资源有限的低收入和中等收入国家（LMIC）的卫生系统具有重要意义。采用概率规模成比例抽样方法，在印度21个邦的450个医疗机构中进行了初步调查。测量的主要结果是自报告的氧合设备在短期和长期满足氧气需求方面的效用，与氧气设备分发前的时期相比。我们进行了双变量和多变量回归分析。约53%-54%的受访医疗机构报告称，分发的氧合设备在短期内有助于满足氧气需求，并有望提高其长期接收有氧气需求的非新冠患者的能力。技术人员的及时可获得性与在医疗机构使用额外的氧合设备满足氧气需求相关。增加能够操作氧气设备的工作人员数量的医疗机构，从长远来看，减轻其工作人员组织氧气支持行政负担的可能性更高。医院基础设施也与长期结果相关。我们发现，诸如氧气瓶和制氧机等氧合设备在应对与新冠疫情相关的氧气紧急情况时对满足氧气需求很有用。总体而言，生产满足需求的氧气以及投资培训生物医学工程师/技术人员来管理氧气有助于挽救生命。
