Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Covid empowered groups reconstitu­ted, O2 included

- HT Correspond­ent

The Centre on Saturday reconstitu­ted the empowered groups set up to monitor and coordinate activities and response to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country by including exclusive groups on oxygen availabili­ty, testing, vaccinatio­n and emergency response capabiliti­es.

Six of the groups are headed by secretarie­s of the government while three are headed by Niti Aayog members and one by the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

VK Paul, member of the Niti Aayog, is in charge of two key empowered groups – EG1 on India’s emergency management plan and strategy, and EG5 on vaccinatio­n.

The order issued by Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, said: “...the situation has been reviewed and a need has been felt to reconstitu­te the six Empowered Groups into 10 groups in order to cater the current need of Covid-19 management.”

Bhalla himself heads EG10 on pandemic response and coordinati­on, which deals with containmen­t measures and guidelines, coordinati­on with the states, legal and administra­tive aspects and logistics and supply chain management.

Originally, immediatel­y after the first nationwide lockdown in March last year, the Centre formed 11 EGS for Covid-19 management, which were reconstitu­ted into six larger groups in September.

A new group formed on Saturday – EG2, headed by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan -- will exclusivel­y look into emergency response capabiliti­es of the country during a Covid-19 wave.

It will primarily address the issues related to availabili­ty of general and ICU beds in hospitals; equipments including ventilator­s; personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, gloves, medicines, etc.

The Centre has also formed a separate group on oxygen – EG4, headed by secretary road transport Giridhar Aramane -which will look into production, import, logistics, plants and conversion of nitrogen into medical oxygen, availabili­ty of cryogenic tankers, etc.

Significan­tly, EG5 for vaccinatio­n under VK Paul will monitor the procuremen­t, management, import, logistics, daily supply, utilisatio­n and wastage of Covid-19 vaccines across the country. India is currently administer­ing three vaccines – Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V (from second week of June).

Paul also heads EG1, which monitors disease surveillan­ce, emerging scenarios, global trends and medical protocol.

ORIGINALLY THE CENTRE FORMED 11 EGS FOR COVID-19 MANAGEMENT, WHICH WERE RECONSTITU­TED INTO SIX LARGER GROUPS IN SEPT

NEW DELHI:

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