New Delhi, May 20 (KNN) CSIR-CMERI is making efforts to boost MSMEs so that they can manufacture the innovative products of Oxygen enrichment adopting decentralised approaches for its reach to the common masses, said its Director Prof (Dr) Harish Hirani. 

He said this while speaking at an online session on May 18th & 19th conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry with Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The aim of the sessions was to create awareness among Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs towards the CSIR-CMERI developed Oxygen Enrichment Technology.

Prof. Hirani said that the availability of Oxygenise is not the real problem; rather, he stressed for focussing upon the strategies for distribution of Oxygen and alternative innovative methods of Oxygen enrichment.

''People are sometimes unnecessarily scared and they need to be involved and made aware for a positive impact and optimum management of Oxygen Therapy in the society,'' he added.

CSIR-CMERI Director also called for reduction of dependency on Medical Oxygen Cylinders as the Oxygen Concentrators have advantages over the Cylinders in terms of transportation and logistics, handling convenience, side effects and toxicity on its prolonged usage. He discussed in detail the techno-commercial aspects of the Oxygen Enrichment Unit developed by CSIR-CMERI and mentioned some bottlenecks in the availability of raw materials locally and its solutions and stated that CSIR-CMERI intends to boost manufacturing of OEU.

''CSIR-CMERI developed Oxygen Enrichment Unit (OEU) has several advantages and it can be used for small hospitals, Mohalla Clinics, remote villages, high altitude regions for defence personnel etc. A lot of freedom has been given to the MSMEs in fabricating and providing them scope for further innovation,'' he stated.

Prof. Hirani also stressed the use of proper masks with Concentrator to avoid the potential threat of risk of spreading the infection among others. CSIR-CMERI developed OEU has been made focussing this aspect also and the Fraction of Inspired Oxygen (FiO2) results also shows encouraging results which shows the Institute product’s superiority on the parameters of consistency and reliability over the available similar products in the market.

He shared that the institute is working on the Hybrid System Configuration Model which involves existing infrastructure of hospitals. Such concepts will reduce the refilling requirement of cylinders by at least 50 per cent.

Research work is going on to explore the use of Oxygen Concentrators for industrial usages like welding, cutting etc, he said.

P Multani, Sr. VP, PHDCCI spoke that the purpose of organizing the programme is to disseminate the technological and business know-how of the technologies to all concerned particularly the MSMEs, usage of the technology during the present crisis and post pandemic era. He thanked Prof. Hirani for making all stakeholders aware in a very simple manner.

''Organising such regular seminars and conferences help industrial development and PHDCCI which is a 116 years old organization is playing a key role in this regard for making a boost to the MSMEs and ultimately the Indian economy,'' he said.

Mohit Jain, Chairperson, MSME Committee, PHDCCI expressed that people have been struggling in hospitals for Oxygen. Industries are being encouraged to augment their capacity to produce Oxygen. Government is also making all efforts in this regard towards installation of Oxygen Plants for production of sufficient Medical Oxygen.

''At this juncture, CSIR-CMERI technology can be a game changer during the COVID as well as post COVID period,'' he added.

He also appreciated the efforts of Prof. Hirani in bringing out the technology for the MSMEs and said that if innovatively used by them, it can help a huge number of patients.

Jain further requested that the cost of the device needs to be optimized to the extent possible. He also mentioned that he would request the appropriate authority in the Central Government to allow waiver of the import duty on the raw materials for concentrators like Compressor, Zeolite etc.

D P Goel, Co Chair, MSME Committee, PHD Chamber expressed his doubts over the impact of concentrators to the environment which was explained by the Director, CSIR-CMERI.

PerminderJeet Kaur, Director, ASSOCHAM-Eastern Region lauded the contribution of CSIR-CMERI for coming out with the technology for the MSMEs and requested them to take the advantage of the indigenously developed product. She also appreciated the decentralized approach of the Institute specially the idea of the Hybrid System Configuration Model for the hospitals.

Kaur acknowledged the Institute’s efforts in transferring the existing technologies to the 10 MSMEs and discussed their experiences and bottlenecks faced by them in development of the prototype and commercialization of the technology.

Eventually, the efforts of Prof. Hirani were appreciated by all the members and technology was termed to be of a novel approach which must be utilized by a large number of entrepreneurs.

According to an official statement, enquiries were also made of the scaling up of the technology for a larger number of beds. It was also mentioned that the price of concentrators in the market have gone manifold, but emphasised upon the trust and reliability factors and shown confidence that CSIR-CMERI technology would stand to it. As regards the hand holding roles of the Institute after ToT to the MSMEs, CSIR-CMERI assured of providing all possible support to the needy entrepreneurs.