Zaporizhstal Metallurgical Plant received a registration certificate from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine for the production of liquid oxygen for use as a medical drug. From April 2, 2021, the plant began to transfer oxygen to medical institutions in the Zaporozhye region on a free basis. In total, the plant will be able to supply hospitals with about 450 tons of medical oxygen per month.
“The COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the whole world does not give up and takes human lives every day. At the end of 2020, realizing what a heavy load our healthcare system is experiencing, we decided to obtain a license for the production of medical oxygen in order to transfer it to the city's hospitals free of charge in the future. It was a rather long and tense process, but we went through this difficult path, realizing that people will urgently need our help in the fight against the coronavirus, ”said Alexander Mironenko.
The air separation unit VRU-60 in the oxygen compressor shop is responsible for the production of oxygen, both technological and medical, at Zaporizhstal: here the atmospheric air is purified, compressed and divided into components.
From the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zaporizhstal and Metinvest, together with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, have been providing assistance to Zaporizhzhya healthcare: doctors received 15 ventilators, 34,000 express tests and tens of thousands of COVID-19 protective equipment from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Also, Zaporizhstal, together with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and Metinvest, financed the construction of an oxygen station, which, after commissioning, will supply oxygen to 172 beds in the COVID department of the Zaporozhye Regional Infectious Disease Clinical Hospital.
