Visakhapatnam, May 16 (IANS): Experts from Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam have achieved a major breakthrough in repairing two major oxygen plants at Nellore and Srikalahasthi in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

The development is expected to give a major boost to the oxygen supply in the state during the ongoing crisis due to shortage of medical oxygen, officials said.

The teams from Naval Dockyard successfully repaired the oxygen plants by overhauling the compressors and replaced certain adapters and accessories which were manufactured within Naval Dockyard.

Both plants were worked upon by a specialist team from Naval Dockyard for almost seven days along with the engineering teams of the Andhra Pradesh health department and to complete the task with the cooperation of the district administration.

Krishna Teja Oxygen Plant at Nellore is a big cryogenic plant capable of charging 400 jumbo type cylinders a day and has been non-functional for six years now.

The plant at Srikalahasthi is a big one based on VPSA technology and is capable of generating 16,000 litres/min.

The state government already sought the help Eastern Naval Command to oversee oxygen supply chain and to ensure its adequate supply to the hospitals.

The government announced on May 8 that the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) will operate and maintain oxygen plants in all government and teaching hospitals across Andhra Pradesh.

The ENC took the responsibility of fixing leakages in oxygen plants, monitoring the condition of the plants and chalking out the precautions to be taken there. Four special teams were formed with each team made in-charge of three to four districts.