Covid-19: Central Government asks states to keep stock of oxygen cylinders, life support equipments

India has stepped up Covid-19 surveillance as China along with some other countries is witnessing a surge in coronavirus infections. Covid-19 review meetings were also held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, after which the state governments issued Covid-19 advisories to curb the cases.Covid-19: Centre asks states to keep stock of oxygen cylinders, life support equipments.

The Central government on Saturday urged states or union territories to ensure the availability of Liquid Medical Oxygen, adequate inventory of cylinders, and functional life support equipment such as ventilators at hospitals to face any challenge, as per PTI reports.

The health ministry asked them to ensure Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen-generating plants are kept fully functional and regular mock drills are conducted to check them. Manohar Agnani, Health Ministry Additional Secretary, in a letter to all states and UTs, said that the operationalisation and maintenance of this medical infrastructure are of utmost importance to meet any eventuality even though the number of cases in the country is low now, PTI reported.

He said medical oxygen is an important and vital resource in all clinical settings, particularly during pandemic management and that reliable oxygen supply is critical for saving lives during patient care and Covid-19 management. Earlier on Friday, Mandaviya has advised states to strengthen Covid-19 surveillance system, ramp up testing and ensure readiness of hospital infrastructure on Friday.

He has requested the State Health Ministers to personally monitor and review the preparedness of all infrastructure and ensure there is adequate stock of essential medicines. The minister also highlighted the need to collectively reinvigorate the system and remove any sense of complacency and fatigue.

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States/UTs were advised to increase the rate of testing from the current rate of 79 tests per million as on 22 December. They were further advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests.