Modi reviews vaccine, O2 supply in key meet
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a high-level meeting to review the availability and supply of oxygen and medicines, while noting that production of all drugs, including remdesivir, has been ramped up significantly in the last few weeks as the country battles the countrywide surge in Covid-19 cases, the PM’s office said in a statement.
“Reviewed different aspects relating to the COVID-19 situation. This includes different sources of oxygen availability and the supply of medicines across the nation,” the PM said in a tweet late on Wednesday.
According to the statement released by the PMO, “The PM was also apprised that the production of all drugs including Remdesivir have been ramped up significantly in the last few weeks. PM said that India has a very vibrant Pharma sector and Government’s continued close coordination with them will ensure proper availability of all medicines.’’
During the meeting, the PM also approved the procurement of the 150,000 units of Oxycare System developed by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) at a cost of ₹322.5 crore from the PM Cares Fund.
The system is aimed at optimising consumption of oxygen based on the SpO2 reading of the patient and thus, effectively increasing the utility of the oxygen cylinders.
PMO said as many as 100,000 manual and 50,000 automatic oxygen systems will be procured along with non-rebreather (NRB) masks.
Non-rebreather masks are the face masks connected to a reservoir bag which allow a patient to inhale only pure oxygen.
A patient using an NRB is unable to inhale anything he or she exhales. A non-rebreather mask typically delivers 70 to 100% oxygen and increases the consumption from a single cylinder by 30 to 40%.
DRDO welcomed the approval and highlighted how it will lessen the workload of hospital staff by a large extent as it will eliminate the need of routine measurements and manual adjustments of oxygen flow. “The threshold SpO2 value for initiating flow from the system can be adjusted once and a display will then continuously keep monitoring the SpO2 levels of the patient,” the DRDO said.
Availability of oxygen and medicines across the country and a management of the surge in cases of Mucormycosis, or black fungus, a rare infection that impacts the brain or sinuses, were also discussed during the meeting.
The central government is actively monitoring the supply of drugs being used in the management of Covid-19 as well mucormycosis, a rare fungal infection being reported at some places, the statement released by the PMO noted.