Covid: Modi assures ‘full support’ to states, urges them to check hoarding of oxygen, medicines
The prime minister said state governments should ensure that oxygen tankers are not stopped or left stranded.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked state governments to check hoarding and black marketing of oxygen and medicines amid reports of such activities emerging from various parts of the country. In a meeting with chief ministers of 11 states and Union Territories that are witnessing a heavy burden of coronavirus cases, Modi assured them of full support from the Centre in dealing with the pandemic.
The prime minister urged the states to set up a co-ordination committee to help move oxygen to hospitals and said that the governments should ensure that oxygen tankers are not stopped or left stranded, a release from Modi’s office stated. The Centre has deployed the Railways and the Air Force to reduce travel and turnaround time for oxygen tankers, the release said. Modi is scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday to discuss all the options for increasing the oxygen supply.
The prime minister’s appeal to state governments came a day after he asked then to “come down heavily” on those hoarding oxygen. On Thursday, for the third day in a row, major hospitals in Delhi nearly ran out of oxygen. Oxygen cylinders were looted in a Madhya Pradesh town on Wednesday, while Haryana and Delhi governments have traded charges over oxygen blockades.
Modi also stressed on the importance of safety of hospitals amid multiple instances of mishaps over the last few days. Earlier this week, in Maharashtra’s Nashik, at least 24 died when a leak in a hospital’s main oxygen tank cut the flow of oxygen to Covid-19 patients. On Friday, at least 14 coronavirus patients admitted to a hospital in Virar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district died after a fire broke out in the medical facility.
The prime minister also noted that the country’s vaccination programme should not slow down, even as the second wave of the pandemic continues to worsen. On Monday, the Centre had announced that all citizens above the age of 18 will be eligible for vaccination in the third phase of the inoculation process in India.
India on Friday registered another global high of 3,32,730 coronavirus cases, pushing the infection tally in the country to 1,62,63,695 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. The country also registered its highest toll at 2,263. With this, the total number of fatalities climbed to 1,86,920.