At the beginning of this week, Ukrainian hospitals began to run out of oxygen for patients with coronavirus. The problems arose for two reasons: firstly, patients with the new Delta coronavirus strain need more oxygen. And secondly, the two main oxygen producers in Ukraine stopped for scheduled repairs. Another plant closed due to technical problems. But metallurgists came to the rescue in the fight against coronavirus.
Metallurgical enterprises of Metinvest Group ship up to 80 tons of medical oxygen daily. Oleksandr Mironenko, General Director of the Zaporizhstal Combine, announced this live on Ukraine 24.
“We cannot stand aside from the general situation that has now developed in the country, therefore, immediately both the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and the enterprises of the Metinvest Group, which includes the Zaporizhstal plant, responded to the call for medical help and began to transmit oxygen. At the moment, we are shipping up to 80 tons of oxygen a day in total, and we plan to maintain this rate as long as it takes to fully supply hospitals, ”stressed Alexander Mironenko.
According to him, the purity of oxygen produced by Zaporizhstal is 99.7%, which makes it possible to use it as a medicine. The high quality of oxygen of Zaporizhstal is confirmed by the registration certificate of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine for the production of liquid oxygen for use as a medical medicine, issued to the enterprise in early April of this year.
“Metinvest metallurgists send high quality medical oxygen to hospitals in Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, Kharkov, Kherson, Chernigov, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Khmelnitsk regions free of charge. All hospitals that ask for oxygen receive it in full, for us it is extremely important, ”emphasized the top manager of the enterprise.
Currently, Metinvest Group, together with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, are developing plans for the supply of oxygen for the next two months.
In metallurgy, oxygen is needed to produce steel or cast iron. Oxygen is used as a combustion product in the process chain. Oxygen, which is obtained during separation at metallurgical enterprises, corresponds in its parameters to medical oxygen.
