Announcement of an Exempt Purchase

Messer LLC offers medical gases, such oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and nitrous oxide. These gases are used during surgical procedures or standard medical care of patients in house or clinics. Oxygen treatment is used in hospitals as well as in ambulances to manage emergency situations. The oxygen enriched gas for use for people who require medical oxygen due to low levels of oxygen in their blood. Carbon dioxide is commonly used as an insufflation gas for minimal invasive surgery (laparoscopy, endoscopy, and arthroscopy) to enlarge and stabilize body cavities to provide better visibility of the surgical area. Nitrogen (Medical Liquid Nitrogen) is a medical gas used for cryosurgery removal of some cancers and skin lesions, and for the storage of tissues, cells, and blood in cryogenic temperatures to ovoid oxidation of the samples. It can be used as part of the medical gas mixture for lung functions tests. Nitrous oxide and oxygen are effective analgesics for the relief of procedural pain and can safely be used by nurses working in a range of settings.

This purchase is exempt from the usual selection processes of the Procurement Code because the procurement expenditure is for medical supplies or medical at a university-operated health care center or dispensary that provides care, treatment, and medications for students, faculty and staff (30 ILCS 500 / 1-13(b-5)) Without access to these specific supplies the hospital would not be able to offer patient care, which in turn would drive patient elsewhere with a loss in revenue to the hospital.