New Delhi: Centre has released over 890 crore rupees as the second installment of the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package to 22 States and Union Territories.
These States and UTs are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
Financial aid on basis of Covid-19 case load
The amount of the financial assistance is based on the COVID-19 case load in these States and UTs. Union Health Ministry said the financial aid will be used for strengthening of public health facilities infrastructure for testing including procurement and installation of RT-PCR machines and RNA extraction kits.
The first installment of 3,000 crore rupees was released in April this year to all States and UTs to aid and enable them to ramp up testing facilities, augment hospital infrastructure, conduct surveillance activities along with procurement of essential equipment, drugs and other supplies.
Rs 15,000 provisioned for treating Covid-19 patients & building medical infra
The Ministry said, as part of the ‘Whole of Government’ approach, Centre is leading the COVID-19 response and management, and supporting the States and Union Territories through technical and financial resources. The COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In his address to the nation on 24th March, he said that the Central Government has provisioned 15,000 crore rupees for treating Coronavirus patients and strengthening the medical infrastructure of the country. This will allow for rapidly ramping up the number of Corona testing facilities, Personal Protective Equipment, isolation Beds, ICU beds, ventilators and other essential equipment.
