Assuring the Centre’s “full support” for 11 states and UT hit hardest by the second Covid surge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday requested their Chief Ministers throughout a digital assembly Friday to arrange a high-level coordination committee that may guarantee well timed supply of oxygen to hospitals.
Modi additionally referred to reviews from a number of components of the nation and informed the Chief Ministers to examine “hoarding” and “black marketing” of oxygen and medicines.
Friday’s assembly got here in opposition to the backdrop of the nation’s day by day positivity price reaching a staggering 19.12 per cent, with 3,32,730 new instances and a pair of,263 deaths registered within the final 24 hours. India’s whole energetic caseload has reached 24,28,616 with 5 states —Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala — cumulatively accounting for 59.12 per cent of it.
Modi additionally held a separate assembly with main oxygen producers, which was attended by Mukesh Ambani of RIL, Soma Mandal of SAIL, Sajjan Jindal of JSW, Shri Narendran of Tata Steel and Naveen Jindal of JSPL, together with others.
During the assembly with Chief Ministers, Modi directed state administrations to make sure that “no oxygen tanker, whether it is meant for any state, is stopped or gets stranded”. On the coordination committee, Modi mentioned that it “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.”
Modi assured that the Centre is engaged on “all possible options to reduce the travel time and turnaround time of oxygen tankers”. He pointed to 2 key steps: Oxygen Express began by the Railways, and empty oxygen tankers transported by the Air Force to cut back one-way journey time.
“… 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,” Modi mentioned.
On the second wave, the Prime Minister flagged three steps: united effort and technique because the virus is affecting a number of states in addition to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities; give attention to widespread testing; and steps to make sure that the vaccination drive doesn’t decelerate.
“PM Modi assured Centre’s full support to all the states in this fight. He added that the Ministry of Health is also in touch with the states and is monitoring the situation closely and issuing necessary advice to the states from time to time,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) mentioned in an announcement.
During the assembly, Dr V Ok Paul, who heads the Centre’s Covid activity power, offered a roadmap for states to ramp up medical services and guarantee focused remedy of sufferers.
Following 24 deaths in Nashik as a consequence of an oxygen tank leak and 14 deaths inside a Covid ICU in Maharashtra as a consequence of a hearth, Modi raised the difficulty of hospital security. “Expressing grief on recent incidents of oxygen leakage and fire at hospitals, PM Modi said the administrative staff of the hospital needs to be made more aware about the safety protocols,” the assertion mentioned.
On the assembly with producers, the PMO mentioned: “PM Modi remarked that the government, the states, the industry and the transporters, and all the hospitals need to come together and work in unison. The better the synergy and coordination, the easier it will be able to deal with this challenge.”
