For a person who depends on long-term oxygen therapy, oxygen is not a convenience or simply another medical device. It is the treatment that allows them to breathe and, in many cases, remain alive.
This is why every decision concerning the provision of home oxygen therapy must be assessed primarily with patient safety in mind and not solely through financial or operational criteria.
Oxygen concentrators and medical oxygen differences
In recent years, home oxygen therapy has increasingly been provided through oxygen concentrators rather than traditional medical oxygen cylinders.
Oxygen concentrators are a reliable and internationally recognised treatment option for many patients when used in appropriate cases and under the correct conditions. However, it is important to understand that they do not operate in the same way or provide the same characteristics as medical oxygen supplied in cylinders.
Cylinders contain medical oxygen, a pharmaceutical product produced according to strict quality and purity standards set by the European Pharmacopoeia.
By contrast, concentrators produce oxygen on site by filtering nitrogen from atmospheric air through an electrically powered process.
The most important difference is simple: an oxygen concentrator cannot operate without electricity.
Power cuts create patient safety concerns
This summer, Cyprus has experienced significant pressure on its electricity system. Increased demand, combined with limitations in production capacity, has led authorities to repeatedly warn about the possibility, or even implementation, of rotating power cuts to maintain grid stability.
For the average citizen, a power outage may mean temporary inconvenience, discomfort due to heat, or disruption to daily routines.
For a patient who depends on a continuous oxygen supply, however, the same interruption can become a serious medical emergency.
This is not a theoretical scenario. It may involve an elderly patient living alone, a person with chronic respiratory failure requiring continuous oxygen therapy, or a family waking during the night because the electricity supply has stopped.
In such situations, every minute matters.
Need for emergency preparedness
The discussion is not about whether oxygen concentrators have a place in modern medicine. They clearly do.
The real question is whether the system has planned for situations where the essential requirement for their operation – electricity – is no longer available.
Do all patients have sufficient backup oxygen supplies? Is there a clear protocol for prolonged power cuts? Have patients and their families been informed about what they should do in an emergency?
Is there an immediate support mechanism when a vulnerable patient is left without functioning equipment?
These are reasonable public health questions that cannot remain unanswered.
Continuity of care must remain a priority
International practice recognises that every patient dependent on electrically powered medical equipment requires an appropriate treatment continuity plan.
A backup solution is not a luxury. It is a basic requirement for safe care.
At a time when power interruptions are no longer a rare or unpredictable event, this need becomes even more urgent.
Patient safety cannot depend on whether the next power cut lasts five minutes or one hour. It cannot become a matter of chance.
Medical oxygen is a life-support treatment.
Technology must go hand in hand with safety
Every home oxygen therapy programme should therefore include comprehensive emergency planning, adequate backup oxygen supplies where required, and clear procedures to protect patients during power failures.
Technology continues to develop and treatment options continue to expand. This is positive.
However, no innovation can be considered truly successful unless it ensures the uninterrupted continuation of treatment.
For people whose lives depend on oxygen therapy, reliability is not a technical detail. It is a condition for life.
*Managing Director, Linde Hadjikyriakos Gas Ltd
Also read: Electricity demand hits all-time record in Cyprus
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