States asked to maintain buffer stock of medicines at district level
BY SUDHIR KUMAR
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last evening chaired a high level meeting to review the Covid-19 related situation and the vaccination drive in the country.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister took stock of the prevailing Covid-19 scenario, preparedness of the health systems to respond, availability of medical oxygen and matters relating to production, supply and distribution of Covid-19 vaccine.
It was discussed that across the world, there are countries where the number of active Covid cases continues to remain high. In India as well, the figures from states like Maharashtra and Kerala, indicate that there can be no room for complacency. However, the weekly positivity was at less than 3 percent for the 10th consecutive week. The Prime Minister was briefed about the concentration of cases in a few geographies, districts with high test positivity as well as the week on week test positivity rate in the country. He spoke about the need for constant genome sequencing to monitor emergence of mutants.
The officers informed him that the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) now consists of 28 labs distributed across the country. The lab network is also linked with a hospital network for clinical correlation. Sewage sampling is also being done for genomic surveillance. Mr Modi was apprised that states have been requested to share SARS COV2 positive samples with INSACOG regularly. The Prime Minister reviewed the status of augmentation of bed capacity for pediatric care and augmentation of facilities supported under ‘COVID Emergency Response Package II’.
It was also discussed that States have been advised to redesign and orient primary care and block level health infrastructure in these areas to manage the situation in rural areas. He was also informed about the states being asked to maintain a buffer stock for drugs used in management of Covid-19, Mucormycosis and Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) at the district level. Prime Minister Modi was also briefed about the increase in isolation beds, oxygen beds, ICU beds and paediatric ICUs and pediatric ventilators. A significant number of ICU beds and Oxygen beds will be further added in the coming months.
The Prime Minister spoke about the need to ensure adequate testing across the country. Officers informed him about the support being given to 433 districts to establish RT-PCR lab facility in public health facilities. The Prime Minister said that the entire ecosystem should ensure increased oxygen availability, including oxygen concentrators, cylinders and PSA plants, need to be rapidly augmented. Efforts are also on to install 961 Liquid Medical Oxygen Storage Tanks and 1,450 Medical Gas Pipeline Systems with an aim to support at least one such unit per district.
On Vaccines, Prime Minister Modi was apprised that around 58 percent of India’s adult population has received the first dose and around 18 percent of India’s adult population has received the second dose. He was d about the vaccine pipeline and increased supply of vaccines.