Shwas Kavach, an initiative aimed at strengthening India’s last-mile medical oxygen supply, has received recognition and support from the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India. The project was formally endorsed on the government’s Manthan platform on 8th May 2026 as an AI-enabled, decentralized model for delivering oxygen to healthcare facilities across the country.
The initiative is being developed by CPDMED at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, together with Newttorr Pumps and Systems Private Limited. It proposes an AI-linked network covering all 778 districts in India, connecting government and military healthcare facilities down to the primary health centre level, supported by a round-the-clock toll-free helpline linking healthcare facilities and oxygen resources. Central to the plan are containerised, IoT-enabled oxygen cylinder filling units to be set up at district drug warehouses, allowing real-time monitoring of purity, pressure, volume and pricing. Once fully implemented, the network is expected to establish approximately 60,165 cylinder banks across district and taluka hospitals, community and primary health centres, along with military, air force and naval hospitals.
The initiative draws on lessons from the pandemic years, when large-scale investment in oxygen generation infrastructure was not enough for timely access to healthcare, especially in rural areas, as supply chains remained concentrated in urban centres. Many home-based patients are reported to have gone without oxygen in time, with such cases often left undocumented.
Shwas Kavach is positioned as a preparedness framework for future health emergencies, built to keep medical oxygen consistently available, accessible, affordable and accountable, down to the village level. Newttorr has also piloted what it describes as India’s first IoT-enabled oxygen cylinder filling station under its Oxy Aid brand.
Special thanks to Mr. Mallikarjun Dandinawar for his valuable support and contribution.
Written By: Sayan Das
Graphics by: Pramit Hazra
