Central Idea regarding Medical Gases
Medical gases are the gases that are used in hospitals by trained professionals for the treatment of certain medical conditions, for anesthesia and particular medical devices. There are various gases used in hospitals but Oxygen gas is the most common one, its storage and use is essential to healthcare facilities. Oxygen, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, helium are some of the gases majorly used for medical purposes. In Pakistan, the city of Lahore is considered the nucleus of oxygen suppliers and other medical gas suppliers.
Oxygen gas is stored in refillable cylinders under safe conditions at high pressure. It is to be noted that during the transportation of oxygen gas, all the equipment coming in contact with the gas must be oxygen friendly meaning that the contact does not evoke fire. The cylinder comes in various sizes denoted by the letters A to E. A represents the smallest size whereas E is for the largest size available. The letter M indicates its use for medical purposes only. The medical gas suppliers have a huge variety of oxygen cylinders in Lahore.
Basics of Oxygen Cylinders
There are several suppliers of oxygen cylinders for homes in Lahore. They have a wide variety of different sizes. Oxygen cylinder in Lahore are available 24/7 and on an urgent basis which is a huge relief for both, the hospitals as well as for people who need it at home for critical patients. The medical gas, Oxygen, is of high purity and no other gas is present in the cylinder to stave off contamination. The medical oxygen cylinder comes in different color labels and each color indicates the different medical gas present in the cylinder.
To name a few, brown color shows the presence of Helium gas, Red shows Hydrogen and Black shows the presence of Oxygen gas in the cylinder. The body of a cylinder is white whereas the neck is colored to distinguish between different gases. The cylinders were traditionally made of low carbon steel. Now they are also manufactured in lightweight chrome-molybdenum steel, aluminium or a composite. It all depends on the properties of the material to be used such as strength, corrosion resistance, and impact resistance, these all need to be kept in mind while manufacturing the cylinders.
Suppliers of Medical Gases
As previously discussed, in Pakistan the city of Lahore is considered to be the hub for medical gas suppliers. There are various medical shops available that also have the facility of providing gas cylinders 24/7. They had lowered the burden to a great extent during the Covid-19 days when there was a shortage of oxygen gas cylinders around the country. Medical gases are colorless, odourless, non-toxic inert gases hence they are used for treatment purposes of patients. Some gases are present in the form of liquids in cylinders whereas others are in the state of compressed gas. The difference between compressed and liquid gas is that compressed gases are stored under pressure in cylinders. Whereas liquid gas is the one that is turned into a liquid by cooling or compressing.
There are a lot of hazards associated with the cylinders therefore it is always advised to handle them with care. For this purpose, the team must be well trained and accustomed to the handling of the oxygen cylinders in hospital as well as home. And setting as the medical oxygen in any form is an oxidizing agent which may cause fire or explosion if not handled appropriately. WHO has posted a poster regarding the safety protocols to be followed while using oxygen cylinders that has included in it the do’s and don’ts for handling oxygen cylinder.