PM says ensure adequate health infrastructure at the district level

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level virtual meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in the country, ongoing preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, status of the vaccination campaign and the emergence of new Covid-19 variant Omicron and its public health implications for the country. A detailed presentation highlighting the surge in cases currently being reported globally was given by Health Secretary. It was followed by the status of COVID-19 in India highlighting various States and Districts of concern, based on the surge in cases and high positivity being reported. Further, various efforts taken by the Central Government so far in terms of supporting States to manage the upcoming challenge were highlighted. Various predictive scenarios of peak cases were also presented. The support to the States to upgrade health infrastructure, testing capacity, availability of oxygen and ICU beds and buffer stock of covid essential drugs under Emergency Covid Response Package ECRP-II was presented. 

The Prime Minister stressed on the need to ensure adequate health infrastructure at the district level. He asked officials to maintain co-ordination regarding this with the states.The presentation brought attention to India’s consistent efforts towards the vaccination campaign, with 31 per cent adolescents aged 15-18 years having been administered with the 1st dose so far within Seven days. Modi noted this achievement and urged to further accelerate the vaccine drive for adolescents in mission mode. The Prime Minister directed that intensive containment and active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases and required technical support be provided to states which are reporting higher cases presently. He highlighted the need to ensure effective usage of masks and physical distancing measures as a new normal to control the spread. Modi further exhorted the need for effective implementation of Home Isolation for mild or asymptomatic cases and to disseminate the factual information to the community at large.
The Prime Minister said that a meeting with Chief Ministers be convened to discuss state-specific scenarios, best-practices and the public health response. He further highlighted the need to ensure continuity of non-Covid health services while managing Covid cases presently. He also spoke about the need to leverage telemedicine to ensure availability of health related guidance to people in remote and rural areas. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharti Pravin Pawar, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Dr P K  Mishra, Member (Health) in NITI Aayog Dr V K Paul, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal and Chairman and CEO Railway Board Vinay Kumar Tripathy participated in the meeting among others.