Centre clears Rs 23K-cr Covid package to boost health infra as third wave looms

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 8

The revamped Union Cabinet, in its first meeting on Thursday, approved Rs 23,123 crore Covid-19 emergency response package to boost health infrastructure and paediatric care across all 736 districts in the wake of a possible third wave.

The package will be implemented by the Centre and states till March 2022, in a financial sharing pattern of Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 8,123 crore, respectively.

The aim is to add 2.4 lakh medical beds and 20,000 ICU facilities with a special focus on paediatric care, add 8,800 ambulances, help states maintain a testing capacity of 21.5 lakh a day and install medical oxygen storage tanks with gas pipelines in every district. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the package would accelerate preparedness to improve Covid response. “The aim is early prevention, detection and management and infrastructure development, including for paediatric care,” he said.

The plan will support central hospitals, including AIIMS, Delhi, and PGI, Chandigarh, for repurposing 6,688 beds for Covid management, boost genome sequencing capacity, support implementation of hospital management information system in all district hospitals and increase telemedicine capacity to 5 lakh consultations a day.

Although sero surveys showed over 55% kids had already developed antibodies and may not be disproportionately vulnerable to a third wave, the government does not want to take any chances.

The response package is an extension of the first part of the package worth Rs 15,000 crore announced in March 2020 to boost health infrastructure in the wake of the pandemic.

APMCs can now use Rs1L cr agri infra fund

New Delhi: APMC mandis will now be eligible to avail financial support from the Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to provide better facilities to farmers, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Thursday. He made a fresh appeal to farm unions to resume talks on the provisions of the three new farm laws. He said neither APMCs would be “weakened nor MSP withdrawn” with the implementation of the three agriculture laws. — TNS