Boosting India’s medical infrastructure to ensure that doctors had everything they need to provide proper services to patients is the government’s topmost priority at the moment, a senior health ministry official told media on Tuesday.
In his daily briefing, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, Lav Aggarwal said that Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha on Tuesday wrote a letter to chief secretaries of the states. In the letter, he told them to prioritise boosting medical infrastructure by filling gaps in demand and availability of essential equipment like masks, ventilators and other items.
“The states have been told that they must ensure that dedicated hospitals have personal protection equipment, ventilators and other essential equipment,” Lav Aggarwal said.
The states have been told to place the orders for the required equipment as soon as possible.
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At the central level, the health ministry official said, the government has started the process of identifying the manufacturers of these products across the country. “Procurement has been initiated so that there is no shortage of any medical equipment or masks which are required by the doctors to provide adequate services to the patients,” he said.
He also revealed that the cabinet secretary on Tuesday with senior officials from Defence Research Development Organisation, Bharat Electrical Limited and other key research organisations to see if the indigenous ventilators, including the one developed in AIIMS, can be used across the country.
Lav Aggarwal also revealed that all stated have been directed by the Centre to build a dedicate hospital for Covid-19 patients. “The states have been asked to build dedicated Covid-19 hospitals. Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and Rajasthan already have started building dedicated hospitals for novel coronavirus patients,” he said.
The cabinet secretary in his letter to the top state officials also asked them to ensure that law and order is strengthened at the district level. “Cabinet secretary has asked the state chief secretaries to renew efforts to trace contacts of positive coronavirus cases. In today’s letter, chief secretaries were told to direct district administrations to strengthen surveillance and rapid response teams so that no suspected patient or high-risk person goes unnoticed,” Lav Aggarwal said.
The Centre is coordinating closely with the states to ensure proper services are provided during the coronavirus epidemic. The states have been asked to allow firms which produce medical equipment to operate despite the lockdown, he said.
Coronavirus cases crossed 500 and one more death from the infection reported taking the toll to 11, as the Centre on Tuesday asked the states and union territories to clamp curfew wherever necessary in the wake of people defying lockdown orders in several parts of the country.
As 32 states and union territories announced complete lockdown till March 31 to deal with the pandemic, authorities are taking a serious view of people continuing to venture out despite the lockdown considering that the coming days and weeks are going to be extremely crucial to contain the spread of the infection.
Source: India Today
