₹1 crore each for med research institutes to buy medicines

APPROVAL WAS ALSO GIVEN TO THE PROPOSAL FOR SPENDING ₹45 CR TO PURCHASE PPE KITS FOR POLICE PERSONNEL

Research institutes like Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, National Botanical Research Institute, Central Drug Research Institute and Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences will get ₹1 crore each from the state disaster management fund to buy consumables and medicines to step up fight against the pandemic.

This and several other decisions were taken in the state disaster management fund executive committee’s meeting chaired by chief secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari here on Friday. Various measures to combat the second wave of the pandemic were also discussed in the meeting, a government spokesman said.

“Besides, the proposal for the grant of ₹7.72 crore to run quarantine centres in all 75 UP districts and the proposal to spend Rs 225 crore on purchase of Covid testing kits, PPE kits, N-95 masks, oxygen cylinders, setting up temporary isolation centres etc were also cleared in the meeting,” he said.

Approval was also given to the proposal for spending ₹45 crore to purchase PPE kits to be used by police personnel and give advance to the railways to carry oxygen cylinders by trains from other states, including Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The proposal for giving ₹ 10 crore to the Medical Supply Corporation to buy 17,100 oxygen concentrators, 20 for each of the 855 community health centres, was also cleared in the meeting.

“The committee also cleared the proposal for setting up a PSA oxygen plants each in 10 districts, including Barabanki, Unnao, Etah, Firozabad, Hamirpur, Kanpur Dehat, Shamli, Sambhal, Shravasti and Hathras,” the spokesman said.