The selected device(s) can be easily transported from a central repository when the need arises.
The proposed innovation is for the selection of the most cost-effective option per context amongst available options such as: battery powered portable concentrators, portable lightweight cylinders, or rechargeable CPAP devices, and an appropriate delivery system (cannula, simple face mask, non-rebreathing mask, nose prong, double trunk mask, etc.). In responding to the dire challenges of a pandemic such as this, especially in areas where surge capacity is exceeded, making available makeshift community centres linked to major hospitals and home care will prove very beneficial and efficient in ensuring that transmission of infection is not escalated within the crowded facilities. Focus should therefore shift from more complex structures like ventilator availability and intensive care capability to basic solutions that address the problem of oxygen shortage in these regions. Access to oxygen therapy is even further limited in low resource settings where a majority of patients requiring this life-saving therapy will not receive it. This strains the entire health care system and further assaults the already insufficient oxygen supply system. With an increased uptake of testing, health systems are consistently challenged by the crowding of hospitals (tertiary care and other designated infection prevention and control centres) with many soon running out of space and operating beyond surge capacity. This has led to an increase in facilities with frequently empty or nonfunctional cylinders in low-resource settings. Additionally, inadequate power supply poses critical challenge to the operation of oxygen plants and also threatens the smooth running of oxygen concentrators which require uninterrupted supply. In resource-poor settings, challenges to oxygen supply include inadequate financing, poor information systems, weak supply chain, poor human resource management, poor electricity supply and other infrastructural problems. How these systems are employed hinges on human resource capacity and capability, the clinical and technical training protocols, local resources, and infrastructure available in the given setting. Important equipment like oxygen cylinders (filled from oxygen plants), oxygen concentrators (produced onsite from natural air), or liquid oxygen (piped oxygen systems) are required for the routine delivery of oxygen to patients. Oxygen production should therefore be made a priority ahead of other measures. For ventilators to be functional, oxygen must be readily available. As such, ventilators cannot be put at the front burner of response because only a few patients may need them. Evidence suggests strongly that oxygen is essential to the survival of patients with both acute and severe COVID-19. Oxygen, being a major component of supportive care, needs to be prioritized to ensure more lives are saved since curative therapy for COVID-19 remains inconclusive.