PM Modi meets top govt officials to review Covid situation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting with the top officials to review the Covid-19 situation in India. The Prime Minister was briefed about the availability of essential medical supplies like oxygen, medicines, health infrastructure that has reached its capacity due to the massive surge in the number of daily coronavirus disease cases.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister instructed the officials to work closely with the state governments to begin the functioning of the PSA oxygen plants at the earliest. The officials also informed him that the states were encouraged to set up the plants to meet the required demand of the life-saving gas, reported Hindustan Times.

The Prime Minister was also informed by the Empowered Group working on boosting oxygen supply about the measures being taken to step up the allocation of oxygen to the states. It was also discussed that the production of liquid medical oxygen has increased by over 3000 MT from August last year. From 5700 MT per day produced in August 2020, the country is producing 8922 MT presently, as of April 25, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office. The domestic production of the essential liquid medical oxygen is expected to increase further and cross 9250 MT per day by the end of this month.

This comes after the Centre informed the Supreme Court earlier in the day that the Prime Minister is working to increase the oxygen supply in the country on war footing and is constantly supervising the availability of oxygen.

The Empowered Group working on medical infrastructure and Covid management briefed the Prime Minister about the efforts undertaken to boost the availability of beds and ICUs in the nation as people struggle with an acute shortage of hospital beds.

PM Modi stressed on the need to ensure that specific guidelines and strategies for Covid management are properly implemented by the states.