A high number of Covid-19 patients suffer from the so-called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, something like an excessive inflammation of the lungs that prevents the normal flow of oxygen (O2) to this organ, with consequent respiratory failure. Undoubtedly, in such cases, and in many other ailments, the aforementioned gas, recognized as a medicine, translates into life.
Knowing this, each of the 203 workers of the Gases Industriales Santiago de Cuba base economic unit (UEB) put the extra in the production and distribution of this and other lines directed to the public health system of the territory where it is located and from the provinces of Guantánamo and Granma. The assortments destined for this sector are liquid O2 and nitrogen (N2), compressed air, as well as oxygen, N2, and carbon dioxide in the form of gas.
From the famous Santiago town of El Caney, under strict safety and quality standards, with the endorsement of being certified with the ISO 9001 Standard of 2015, the UEB Industrial Gases works, to say of themselves, “without taking a breath ”.
Oxygen and more
This entity from Santiago has more than 40 years of experience in the medical use of oxygen using “the air that surrounds us, previously filtered and purified, through the use of a compressor.” This is how Jorge Bermúdez, technical head of the UEB, explains, who recognizes the invaluable role of the members of the National Association of Innovators and Rationalizers, pillars in the smooth running of an industry not as modern as its staff would like, but efficient in its management .
“Our liquid oxygen, for example, is packed in thermos and later goes to cylinders or gasification units that we have distributed in various hospitals in the southeast of the country. “There an operator of ours gasifies the liquid deposited in large bullets located in these healthcare centers and then the gas is conducted through a network of pipes to the places where its use is necessary, among them the intensive care rooms.”
The gasification units installed by the UEB Santiago de Cuba are in the Dr. Ambrosio Grillo, Dr. Juan Bruno Zayas and Saturnino Lora hospitals in the city of Santiago de Cuba; Orlando Pantoja, from the Santiago municipality of Contramaestre, as well as in the Agustinho Neto of Guantánamo, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes of Bayamo and Celia Sánchez Manduley of Manzanillo.
The productive volumes of the liquid and gaseous assortments destined for the public health sector satisfy the needs that until now have the healthcare centers of the three provinces, “and if it is necessary to do more, the provision is total, without lowering the guard in that we do for the industries of the territory ”, says Franklin Ramos Tabera, workshop manager of the liquid oxygen plant, a man who has been working for the UEB in Santiago for 39 years.
“An example of this is that this year, without having it planned, we assumed the production of legía for its commercialization in the Commerce system.
“The sodium hypochlorite comes to us from the plant located in Sagua La Grande, Villa Clara, and we have already made 183 thousand 716 liters of liquor, of which 55 thousand 200 to Santiago de Cuba, 32 thousand 584 to Guantánamo and 60 thousand 200 to Granma ”.
Take care and care
Since the Covid became a threat to daily life, the routine at UEB Gases Industriales Santiago de Cuba has changed. In addition to the mandatory foot bath and the hand sanitization set at the entrance door and in the different areas of the center, the fumigation of vehicles and cylinders was applied
“In the first place there is personal protection, our operators cannot lack gloves, boots, overalls, and of course, the nasobuco,” says Luis Mario Álvarez Pompa, brigade chief of the filling platform, in addition to that it is mandatory the fumigation of the tires, the bed and the cab of the trucks that bring us the cylinders from the hospital centers.
“These also receive a disinfection with sodium hypochlorite and then go to the productive flow. They are essential measures to avoid any contagion to remain active in our jobs, to take care of ourselves to continue taking care of the health of those who need our oxygen to heal ”.
Taken from the Workers Newspaper.