After major rejig, Cabinet clears Rs 23,123-crore for COVID infrastructure

New Delhi, July 9: Amid COVID, The new Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the new package of Rs 23,123 crore to accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management, with the focus on health infrastructure development including for Paediatric Care and with measurable outcomes.

 

 

The scheme named ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response & Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II’ has Central Sector (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) components. The fund will be utilised by the Centre and the state government to provide support to government hospitals, agencies to augment their existing response to the second wave and the evolving pandemic, including at district and sub district levels in peripheral facilities, the government said.

 

 

In his first media briefing, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya underlined that the package focuses on augmenting infrastructure of paediatric care at the district level, increase in the number of beds in rural, peri-urban areas (outskirts), and support to districts’ creation of buffer stocks of essential medicines. "…On the basis of problems that we faced during the second wave, as well as on the basis of the ways to tackle this in future, we have designed the new second package," Mandaviya said.

 

 

The creation of paediatric units in all 736 districts, installation of 1,050 liquid medical oxygen storage tanks with medical gas pipeline systems that will support one unit per district, and expansion of the teleconsultation platform that will offer 5 lakh consultations per day are some of the components that are part of the package.

 

In the second package of Rs 23,123 crore, both Centre and states will implement the scheme, he said. “The Centre will provide Rs 15,000 crore and states will spend Rs 8,123 crore,” he said. As part of the package, support will be provided to create paediatric units in all 736 districts, and augment 20,000 ICU beds in government hospitals, of which 20 per cent will be pediatric ICU beds.

 

 

In March 2020 last year, when the country was faced with the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, PM Modi had announced a Central Sector Scheme of Rs. 15,000 crore for the "India COVID 19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package", providing a critical impetus to the efforts of MoHFW and States/UTs, and catalysing health systems activities for pandemic management. Since mid-February 2021, the country is experiencing a second wave with spread into rural, peri-urban and tribal areas.