‘We aim to touch Rs 100 crores/ annum turnover in the next three years’

Sanjay Jaiswal, Founder & MD, Airox Technologies elucidates on his company’s offerings for healthcare and plans for future growth, in an interaction with Express Healthcare

Tell us about Airox Technologies’ journey within the healthcare sector?

Airox started its journey in 2011, we realised that hospitals are spending huge money on oxygen which we found can be reduced drastically. Also, after the fire at AMRI Hospital, Kolkata and many such other incidences, we decided to offer a safer, economical and quality solution for oxygen supply to hospitals. This idea prompted us to launch the new generation oxygen generator system in India. Now we have 150+ installation across India which includes almost all major states in India. We have 80 employees and 20 strong distributors with head office at Aurangabad, Maharashtra and own branch offices at New Delhi, Kolkata and Vapi, Gujarat.

You specialise in oxygen generators. Can you throw some light on its importance with modern hospitals?

Modern hospitals are adopting newer technology and modernisation helps to reduce operating costs and increase efficiency. Oxygen is a life saving component in the hospital. The oxygen supply should be uninterrupted and manpower should not be involved in supply. You have seen many instances where hospital ran out of cylinders and in case of liquid oxygen the line got blocked due to valve blockages. This kind of problem is not there with our oxygen generator system. It is a completely automatic system whichmakes hospital self-sufficient on oxygen. It runs when you consume oxygen, rest of the time it is on standby mode.

In our system, one can monitor the purity of oxygen with a digital online analyser which is given with the system and assures purity.

Also, all other headaches involved with cylinders and liquid oxygen billing, stock, weighing of liquid oxygen etc. can be avoided with our system since the oxygen generator is a completely automatic system and runs only when you consume it.

What are the advantages of oxygen generators as compared to cryogenic and oxygen cylinders?

• Oxygen generator saves approximately 70 per cent and 50 per cent on oxygen consumption bills as compared to cylinders and liquid oxygen respectively.
• Quality of oxygen in our oxygen generator is better. In our system, harmful gaseous content like Co2, CO, SO2, hydrocarbon and water content is far lower than cryogenic and oxygen cylinders. We have done random laboratory tests to prove that. FDA has given us clearance considering all these points. This is the reason why many government and corporate hospitals have now adopted this technology.
• The oxygen generator system is compact and can be installed on the terrace which helps in saving huge space in comparison to liquid oxygen which is installed on prime space of the ground floor where the truck can reach.
• The oxygen generator system is safer compared to cylinder or liquid oxygen. Our oxygen is in gaseous form and only at 4.5 bar pressure. It helps in avoiding fire hazards and makes the hospital a safer place.
• The system has life of atleast 24 years and can be upgraded any time as per the hospital’s need.
• There is no heat transfer lose unlike in the case of liquid oxygen where you lose major oxygen due to evaporation (liquid oxygen heat transfer from – 183 Degree C to room temp almost 200 Degree C). Our system operates on room temperature.
• In our system, you produce what you use, not like cylinders where you are never assured about what oxygen feeling capacity you are getting. Even if one is getting cylinders at 125 bar (compared to 160 bar) you are losing almost 20 per cent oxygen and when you change cylinders, six to eight per cent oxygen cannot be vacated and is counted as waste.

What, according to you, should a modern hospital consist and how do you see Airox contributing to that?

A modern hospital should have a combination of a great doctors’ team and latest equipment which help diagnose diseases accurately and operate on critical patients. The information flow in the hospital should be fast and that can be done with a good HIS and PACS software. Hospital should have trained manpower to increase the efficiency. The manpower, electricity and oxygen are major operating cost in any hospital. Our aim should be to reduce it without compromising quality.

Airox launched Telelift which improves hospital goods transportation, increases workflow and efficiency. Also it helps reduce manpower and electricity cost.

Airox oxygen generator helps reduce oxygen cost drastically and is a completely automatic system.

How does the Airsep oxygen generator supplied by Airox Technologies differ from the oxygen generator supplied by other companies? What are the unique features? Any quality certification received so far?

To maintain 4.5 bar pressure and consistent purity at Indian conditions which include high temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure, one requires state-of-the-art technology. Ours is the only proven product which works in Indian atmospheric condition with more than 150 installations across India. The Zeolite which separates oxygen from air is developed by the core team of Airsep Corporation in the US, it is not available with any competitor. Our PSA process is unique and cannot be duplicated. Due to this robust process, Zeolite, our service team with 35 dedicated engineers and spare part inventory of almost three crores we can guarantee minimum 20 years of our system life. These things make us a market leader in India with more than 90 per cent market share in Indian private hospitals.

AirSep Corporation is the only PSA oxygen manufacturer that meets the following standards of construction

• CE 93/42/EC (European Medical CE)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME ) VIII
• EN-ISO 9001 (2008)
• EN-ISO 13485 (2012)
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
• Canadian Standards Association/Canadian Registration Number (CSA/CRN)
• New York Fire Department (NYFD)
• Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory/Underwriters Lab 3101.1 (NRTL-UL)
• Indian FDA

Our system oxygen complies with:

• USP93XXII (United States Pharmacopeia)
• EUROPIAN Pharmacopoeia
• Indian Pharmacopeia
• HTM 2022
• HTM 02-01
• ISO 7396-1 and EN 737-3
• ISO/ DIS 10083 (International Organization for Standardization)

Do you plan to introduce new products in this space?

We have recently launched the electric tracking vehicle (ETV) from Telelift, a German technology in India which will be a major revolution in the Indian hospital industry. The system has life of atleast 30 years. This technology is a modern way of transporting hospital material within hospitals. It reduces manpower, electricity cost and improves work-flow.

The container can carry load till 15 kg. It can transport surgical goods from CSSD to different operation theatres keeping surgical instrument sterile using UV light technology. It can transport blood samples including LDH and ASAT analysis. Intravenous drips, blood bags, consumables, files,postal mails, X-ray, CD, cash etc can be transported through this system. In short, ETV will transport all small goods except linen and food.

What are your plans for Airox Technologies in the coming year?

We are promoting our product as ‘oxygen for modern hospitals’. We have been highly successful in this regard since we have 150+ installations in India including government and corporate hospitals. In coming few years, we will be taking this technology to other major hospitals in India.

Airox has its head office in Maharashtra, with branch offices in Delhi, Vapi and Kolkata. We have 80 employees and 20 strong distributor team which will help us to grow and achieve new heights. With present installation and infrastructure in place, we aim to touch Rs 100 crores/ annum turnover in the next three years.

We also see ourself as a pioneering company that launches new generation technology in India which will immensely benefit the Indian hospital industry.

Is there anything else that you would like to highlight?

There are a few state-of-the-art hospitals across the globe like Niguarda Ca´Granda Hospital, Milano, Italy (1300 beds), Central Hospital Augsburg, Germany (1200 beds) and Binhai Hospital, Shenzhen, China (1500 beds) using ETV system for hospital goods logistics. We also wish Indian hospitals to adopt this technology which will improve their efficiency and quality, and also help to reduce manpower and electricity cost.