What happens during a medical gas site survey?

What the survey covers

A Global Fund overview of the technical assistance offered for PSA plants under Project BOXER (26 July 2024) describes site assessments that can include:

• An oxygen need and gap assessment, to recommend the plant capacity and configuration.
• An assessment of the hospital infrastructure and power supply system, to identify what must be addressed before installation and where the plant should go.
• A general evaluation of physical access for plant delivery and later cylinder distribution, and an assessment of potential plant locations.
• The capacity building and training needs of the technical, management and administrative staff who will run and maintain the oxygen system.
• Measurements and information to prepare engineering and architectural drawings, and a check of construction already under way.

In UNDP's planning step (REQ-OXY-001, effective 1 January 2025), biomedical engineers assess oxygen demand and evaluate the existing oxygen systems, civil engineers assess the infrastructure, and the assessment covers space, electrical requirements, power stability, operating hours and backup oxygen sources. UNDP also calls for an environmental and social impact assessment covering waste management, noise, energy consumption and the impact on nearby communities.

Power and electrical capacity

A Global Fund note on PSA site readiness (11 April 2025) asks for a qualified professional to evaluate whether the existing hospital infrastructure can power the plant and to identify what must be upgraded, improved or modified for safety or quality; a local electrician then carries out those works. UNDP's bid checklist asks for photographs of the electrical and oxygen sources, storage and distribution systems and, from the awarded bidder, a site assessment report on the existing medical gas and electrical installations and their compliance with national and international norms, including an electrical load test report.

Location and site conditions

For a containerised plant, the same Global Fund note asks for air pollutants such as generator exhausts, idling cars and waste incinerators to be at least 10 m away, no flammable materials nearby, cleared, level and compacted ground, a well lit and secure area that is not prone to flooding, and room for a truck and a crane. It adds that each supplier has its own site readiness prerequisites, which must be verified. UNDP's site evaluation form, adapted from a 2023 WHO annex, records the highest monthly average temperature and humidity and the altitude, and says the site assessment should be completed two weeks before the equipment arrives.

Existing pipelines

Where the plant will feed an existing pipeline, the Global Fund note lists identifying tie-in points to the existing piping network among the improvements the design team may need to plan, and warns that PSA suppliers often quote very little piping, as little as 1 metre, to connect the new plant. The existing network must then be extended to within close proximity of the plant, with the main pipe run underground or overhead. See whether an old pipeline can be connected to a new PSA plant.

What an ULTRAOX site needs

The ULTRAOX datasheet (2022, p. 9) lists what the customer provides: drainage for condensate, a fixing system for all equipment and a three-phase power supply, on a clean, level area easily reached by lifting machinery or a crane. The ambient air must be reasonably free from dust, at an acceptable level of humidity and free from chemical contamination, the location must not be classed as electrically hazardous, smokers must stay at least 10 metres away, and the customer must hold the licences to install and operate the equipment. The plant can be connected to a diesel-electric generator. See site requirements for an oxygen plant.