From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) has demonstrated commitment to increasing access to oxygen in response to the pandemic needs. Working alongside the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), CHAI, with funding from the Unitaid led to the revival of the National oxygen coordinating platform – United for Oxygen (U4O) to support respiratory care efforts in the country and reviewing the functionality of all Federal owned Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generator plants in the country.
COVID-19 has dramatically increased hypoxemia (low blood oxygen) prevalence and the need for medical oxygen. According to WHO treatment guidelines, COVID-19 patients require two to six times more oxygen than the average non-COVID-19 ICU patient. Without immediate investments in oxygen production, equipment and supplies, more lives will be lost as countries face new waves and variants that increase the pressure on health systems that are already severely strained. Recently, the FMoH has put in place plans for the procurement of ~38 PSA plants to be distributed in government -owned facilities across the country in response to the COVID-19 needs and for more long-term oxygen needs.
To achieve the ‘desired care state’ for the treatment of hypoxemic patients, especially for patients with COVID, there is a need to ensure that the supply of oxygen is stable and reliable. The oxygen plant requires reliable power supply to meet service needs of health facilities. The availability of power continues to challenge the delivery of effective medical services in Nigeria. The normal functioning of the oxygen plant is hinged on sufficient supply of power to health facilities hence, influencing service delivery. As power supply from the national grid is often erratic, a back-up generator bridges the gap. CHAI with support from Unitaid, under the ACT-Accelerator Therapeutics Pillar, is supporting the Federal Ministry of Health with a total of 6 (six) standby generators (key starter mechanism) and 6 (six) diesel storage tanks which will be delivered to selected tertiary hospitals in six states.
CHAI invites interested and capable vendors to submit proposals for the supply and delivery of stand by generators, diesel storage tanks, and other commodities.
Interested vendors can send their proposals for the items electronically with this reference in the subject “PSA-OP/002/Generators” to CHAI-Procurement-NG@clintonhealthaccess.org by 12:00 hours EDT/17:00 hours WAT August 5, 2022.
