Yusuff Moshood
The World Health Organisation says the availability of medical oxygen is crucial to the containment of COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO said medical oxygen helps save the lives of critically ill patients.
The global health body stated this in a post on its official Twitter handle @WHO on Saturday.
Medical oxygen is high purity oxygen that is used for medical treatments and is developed for use in the human body.
It is used to provide the basis for virtually all modern anaesthetic techniques.
It also restores tissue oxygen tension by improving oxygen availability in a wide range of conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – a chronic inflammatory lung infection that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs.
Medical oxygen is also used in the treatment of patients of cyanosis, shock, severe haemorrhage, carbon monoxide poisoning, major trauma, cardiac/respiratory arrest
According to the WHO, medical oxygen has been a game-changer for the battle against COVID-19, adding that the healthcare product will continue to be important beyond the period of the viral pandemic.
“Medical oxygen saves #COVID19 patients’ lives.
“By December 2020, WHO had sent more than 16 500 oxygen concentrators and 40 000 pulse oximeters & oxygen monitors to 121 countries,” WHO said.
The global health agency said aside supplying oxygen concentrators to many countries to enable them to take care of patients who need them, it has also supported many countries to build sustainable oxygen systems.
WHO said supplying oxygen to countries that needed them during the pandemic had been a great logistic challenge.
The global health body, however, noted that despite travel restrictions and reduced flights, its logistic teams worked round the clock with other partners to get supplies of important healthcare items to those who needed them the most.
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