Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 23: Amidst near-collapse of the health infrastructure due to massive surge of the Coronavirus cases in the country, the prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday gave a clear message to the country, “if we fight the pandemic together as one nation, there will not be any scarcity of resources.”
His message came during a review meeting Modi had with the chief ministers of 11 most Corona heavily burdened states, his third in the last few days since the second wave kept breaking all new records every day.
Urging all the states to work together to fight the second wave of the pandemic, Modi said the biggest basis of India’s success during the first wave of the pandemic was the country’s united efforts and united strategy and reiterated that “we will have to address this challenge in the same way,” the prime minister’s office quoting Modi said.
The union government on the day also announced that 5 kg of food grains would be provided to 80 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for the months of May and June as many States were undergoing curfews and the high rates of coronavirus infections had led to a slowdown in economic activity. The outlay for the free grain programme has been pegged at ₹26,000 crore.
The Prime Minister told the chief ministers to ensure there were no hindrances in the transportation of oxygen tankers as several regions across the country reported a shortage in the supply for Covid-19 patients. “He urged the states to check hoarding and black marketing of oxygen and medicines. The PM said every state should ensure that no oxygen tanker, whether it is meant for any state, is stopped or gets stranded,” the PMO statement said.
As the states flagged shortage of oxygen, medicines and other health infrastructural facilities to meet the pandemic, Modi said continuous efforts are on to increase the supply. “All the concerned departments and ministries of the government are also working together. Industrial oxygen has also been diverted to meet immediate requirements,” the Prime Minister said, according to his office.
Modi assured States that all resources, including the Indian Railways and the Indian Air Force (IAF), were being deployed to reach oxygen to different corners of the country. The PM asked States to be strict with curbing the hoarding and black marketing of essential drugs and injections as COVID-19 cases soared in India. He also said that the Central government would be providing vaccines against COVID-19 acquired by it to the States for free, as in the past.
The meeting with Chief Ministers, followed by Modi’s meeting with oxygen manufacturers, the fourth such review of oxygen availability in the last week, assumes significance with daily new cases neared the 3.5 lakh mark on Friday.
Modi said the IAF was flying in empty tankers for oxygen to reduce turnaround time on supplies. The Railways had been roped in to run ‘Oxygen Express’ trains. He urged States fighting for scarce oxygen to set up coordination teams to allow the movement of tankers across State borders.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, which are now facing swiftly rising COVID-19 cases, were highlighted as an area of concern. Modi reiterated the need to scale up testing along with upgrading resources and remarked that India’s vaccination programme should not slow down in the current situation. The prime minister also expressed grief at the accidents that had taken place in hospitals, adding that hospital staff had to be more aware of safety protocols.
As the Delhi Chief Minister live streamed his interjection in the meeting, Modi admonished Arvind Kejriwal and his office for violating the protocols of closed-door meetings.
“My belief is that if there is a national plan against Covid, then the centre and all state governments can work together in that direction. Our departed souls…,” Kejriwal said, but stopped as Modi cut in. “What is happening… this is strictly against our tradition, our protocol… that some Chief Minister is showing a live telecast of an in-house meeting,” said the Prime Minister sternly.
“This is not appropriate, we should always maintain restraint,” he chided the Delhi Chief Minister, who then apologised. Kejriwal replied: “Ok sir, we will be careful in future.” He resumed his earlier thread before expressing regret once more.
“Our departed souls, those who have died because of corona, may their families get the strength to bear it. If there was any mistake on my part, I have said anything harsh or if there is anything wrong in my conduct, then I apologise. We will follow instructions given to us,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal’s office later released a statement expressing regret, saying the live streaming was done under the impression that it was allowed as it had been done in previous meetings. “Today, the Chief Minister’s address was shared live because there has never been any instruction, written or verbal, from the central government that the said interaction could not be shared live. There have been multiple occasions of similar interactions where matters of public importance which had no confidential information were shared live. However, if any inconvenience was caused, we highly regret that.”
The Government sources said the interaction was not meant to be televised and accused Kejriwal of “descending to a new low” by doing so. “For the first time, private conversations of PM’s meeting with Chief Ministers is being televised. His entire speech was not meant for any solution but for playing politics and evading responsibility,” some BJP leaders said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, going head-to-head with the BJP in the Assembly polls in her State, absented herself from the meeting for the second successive time.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel made a strong demand that vaccines should be provided at the same rates for both the Centre and the States.
Serum Institute of India has announced that it would be providing the Covishield vaccine, which it currently sells to the Centre at ₹150-200 per dose, at Rs 400 per dose to the state governments and at Rs 600 per dose to private entities.
“Please provide an action plan for vaccine availability to the States for running vaccination drive for all above 18 years of age, Baghel said.
Meanwhile, the government said the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) is importing 23 mobile oxygen generation plants from Germany, and these will arrive within a week. “These plants will be deployed in AFMS hospitals catering to Covid patients,” a senior official said. Each plant can produce 2,400 litres of oxygen per hour. “At this rate, it can cater to 20-25 patients round the clock. The advantage of these plants is that they are easily portable,” the official said.
The military and other wings of the defence ministry have been ordered to respond on war footing to fight the outbreak that has so far claimed nearly 185,000 lives. From setting up Covid hospitals to ramping up oxygen production and airlifting of medical staff and oxygen containers to liaising with state governments to help them deal with the rising number of daily cases, the armed forces, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) are working overtime for Covid-19 relief.
A new Covid hospital set up by the DRDO in Ahmedabad will be functional from Saturday. The hospital has been readied in less than 10 days. The Dhanvantri Covid Hospital has a capacity of 900 beds, including 150 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, said official sources. The remaining 750 beds also have provision for oxygen, he added. It has so far set up or is in the process of setting up state-of-the-art Covid hospitals in six cities to treat more than 3,100 critical patients.
The DRDO has set up a 500-bed hospital in Delhi and converted an ESIC hospital into a 500-bed Covid facility in Patna. In addition, hospitals with 450 beds in Lucknow and 750 beds in Varanasi are expected to be functional soon. A sixth Covid hospital is being readied in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
The Indian Air Force on Thursday airlifted three empty oxygen containers from Hindon to Panagarh in West Bengal where these will be filled up and supplied to different centres for Covid relief. The IAF used its C-17 and Il-76 heavy-lift aircraft to move the containers. Also, it moved empty oxygen containers from Begumpet to Bhubaneswar on Friday. Once filled, the containers will be carried to Covid centres by rail or road.
The IAF has deployed its aircraft for airlifting medical personnel, oxygen containers, oxygen cylinders, trolleys and essential medicines to places where they are needed, official sources said.
