PM stresses localised containment, testing
Include door-to-door testing, report data accurately, help rural India with O2: Modi
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in the country, directing government officials to make a distribution plan for oxygen supply to rural areas and scale up health infrastructure to manage the disease burden in those regions.
The Prime Minister asked officials to focus on testing, including door-to-door testing and assist health care workers in rural areas, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. He also stressed that local containment efforts were the “need of the hour”, especially in states where the test-positivity rate – an indication of the spread of the virus within a population – is high.
“PM asked for augmentation of healthcare resources in rural areas to focus on door-to-door testing and surveillance. He also spoke about empowering ASHA & Anganwadi workers with all necessary tools,” the statement said.
PM Modi’s directions are significant, given that the deadly second wave of infections in the country appears to have affected rural hinterland faster than it did during the first outbreak last year.
As reported by HT on May 8, during the first wave, urban areas contributed a majority of new infections in India every month for five months from March 2020 to July 2020, before rural areas started contributing more new cases. In the second wave, which began in February, this took just two months as rural areas began contributing more cases April onwards.
Experts say the impact of the outbreak could be even deadlier in rural areas, where health care infrastructure is traditionally weaker and fewer medical facilities are available. About 73% of the country’s population also resides in rural districts. “The Prime Minister directed that a distribution plan for ensuring oxygen supply in rural areas should be worked out, including provision of Oxygen Concentrators,” the statement said.
The PM’S meeting was also held just weeks after the national capital plunged into a health care crisis over the supply of oxygen, which is crucial in the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Starting April 22 until the first week of May, hospitals across New Delhi repeatedly made distress calls over dwindling stocks of oxygen, and dozens of patients died as some facilities waited for supplies to be replenished.
The situation in the Capital has now eased but other states are facing a similar issue. At least 75 Covid-19 patients died at a premier hospital in Goa after fluctuation in the supply of medical oxygen this week. At the meeting that was attended by Niti Aayog member VK Paul, cabinet secretary Rajeev Gauba among other officials, PM Modi also instructed officials to ramp up testing with both RT-PCR and rapid tests, specifically focusing on Covid-19 hot spots.