Oxygen therapy has emerged as the primary treatment for critical patients infected during the second Covid-19 wave in the country. However, as India battles a massive spike of cases and the health infrastructure crumbles under an increasing demand for oxygen, liquid oxygen stocks in the country have depleted and forced people to look for alternatives.
Thus, the demand for oxygen concentrators is rising. An oxygen concentrator collects oxygen and nitrogen present in the surrounding air and filters the air that it provides to the patient via nasal cannula or oxygen masks. Oxygen concentrators are capable of producing up to 95% of pure oxygen. Since they have in-built oxygen sensors, it can be clearly seen if the purity level reduces in the concentrator.
However, with so many models of oxygen concentrators in the market, many are finding it difficult to choose the right one with an ideal price. In this guide, we strive to give you the required information which will help you make an informed decision.
Buying guide
1. Due to the sudden surge in the demand for oxygen concentrators, their availability has become an issue both online and offline. Still, some websites like 1mg, Nightingales India, Healthklin, and Healthgenie, are selling oxygen concentrators but buyers need to be careful as some lesser-known websites are also selling equipment like nebulisers and humidifiers and scamming people by charging for the price of an oxygen concentrator.
2. Users should ensure that they are the oxygen concentrator of a trustworthy brand, like Equinox, Oxlife, Inogen, Aspen, OCM, and Yuwell.
3. If you have confirmed that you are buying an authenticated oxygen concentrator, the next step is to check its flow rate capability. Flow rate is the rate at which the oxygen can travel from the machine to the patient. Every patient requires different flow rates, thus it is recommended that you discuss this with your doctor and then proceed.
4. Every oxygen concentrator draws a different amount of power. The one with the lowest power consumption doesn’t have to have the same flow rate as prescribed by your doctor. A lot of times the prescribed concentrator will draw more power. But keep an eye out on the models which have an option of working on consumer-grade batteries so that the machine keeps working even if the power goes out.
5. Users also need to check the level of oxygen concentration provided by the machine they buy. The filtered oxygen that reached the patient has a particular percentage of pure oxygen which is called oxygen concentration. While a lot of oxygen concentrators have a concentration value between 87%-99%, this value can also differ between the models. Mostly, portable oxygen concentrators do not provide higher oxygen concentration.
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