New Delhi: On the issue of preparedness to deal with the situation in the country, the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that learning from the 1st and 2nd wave of Covid pandemic in the country, more than 18 lakh Isolation Beds, nearly 5 lakh Oxygen supported beds, one lakh 40 thousand ICU Beds, 24 thousand Pediatric ICU Beds and over 64 thousand Non- ICU Pediatric Beds are made available in the country.
He also informed that under the Emergency Covid Response Package -2, which is being implemented at a cost of 23 thousand 123 crore rupees, 50 per cent of the fund has been released to the States. Mr Bhushan said, the states are making arrangements of 96 thousand 913 additiional oxygen supported beds, over 20 thousand ICU Beds and over 9 thousand Pediatric ICU Beds with the help of this fund.
On the availability of medical oxygen capacity, the Health Secretary said, there was a 10 fold increase in oxygen demand from 1st wave to 2nd wave and there is now 18 thousand 800 metric tonnes of medical oxygen per day capacity is available.
On Covid vaccination, he said that 89 per cent of total adult populaton has received the first dose while 61 per cent has received the 2nd dose. He however highlighted that the cause of concern is 11 states where vaccination coverage is less than the national avgerage and the government of India is engaged with these States to scale up the vacciantion coverage.
