Amid reports of several states facing a shortage of oxygen in hospitals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Centre is deploying the Railways and Air Force to reduce the transportation time for oxygen tankers. He also added that every state should ensure that no oxygen tanker, irrespective of its destination, is stopped or gets stranded.
Chairing a high-level meeting with chief ministers of 11 states and Union Territories with maximum Covid-19 cases, PM Modi assured them full Central assistance in fighting the pandemic. He also urged states to work in unity and coordinate with one another to fulfil medical requirements, asserting that “if we work as one nation, there will not be any scarcity of resources”.
Noting that the virus is affecting several states as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities at once, PM Modi said that the Health Ministry is in touch with the states and is monitoring the situation closely and issuing necessary advice from time to time.
On oxygen supply, PM Modi took note of the points raised by the states. He said there is a continuous effort to increase oxygen supply. All the concerned departments and ministries of the government are also working together. Industrial oxygen has also been diverted to meet immediate requirements.
According to a PMO release, PM Modi urged all states to work together and coordinate with one-another to fulfil requirements relating to medicines and oxygen. He urged the states to check hoarding and black marketing of oxygen and medicines.
The Prime Minister urged the states to set up a high-level co-ordination committee to carry oxygen to different hospitals of the state. This coordination committee should ensure that as soon as there is allotment of oxygen from the Centre, it can deliver oxygen as per requirement in different hospitals of the state immediately.
PM Modi said that along with upgrading resources, there is need to focus on testing. He emphasised that widespread testing should be conducted so that people get the facility easily. He said that the vaccination programme should not slow down in this situation. Noting that India is running the world’s largest vaccination programme and so far, more than 15 crore vaccine doses have been provided free of cost to the states by the Centre, he said the vaccine is going to be available to all citizens above 18 years of age from 1 May.
The campaign launched by the central government to provide free vaccine to all citizens above 45 years as well has healthcare workers and frontline workers, will also continue in the same manner. “We will also need to work in mission mode to get more and more people vaccinated,” he said.
In the meeting a presentation was given by Dr V.K. Paul, member, Niti Aayog, which highlighted the preparations being done to counter the new surge of infections. Dr Paul also presented the roadmap for increasing the medical facilities and targeted treatment of patients.