Agartala, Aug 18: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare- Mansukh Mandaviya announced allocation of Rs 1,352.92 crore for north-eastern states including Rs. 93.02 crore for Tripura under the Emergency COVID-19 Response Package- II.
The Union Minister chaired a review meeting on Public Health Response to COVID-19 with the Health Ministers of Northeast States in Assam on Tuesday. The Minister arrived in Assam with a Central team to review the COVID-19 situation in the region.
Education minister Ratanlal Nath from Tripura took part in the meeting and presented the state’s latest Covid scenario. Dr. Siddharth Shiv Jaiswal, MD NHM Tripura, was also present in the North East COVID-19 Pandemic review meeting held at Guwahati on Tuesday.
Mandaviya tweeted, “The union health ministry has sanctioned Rs 141.94 crore for Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 812.46 crore for Assam, Meghalaya Rs 91.94, for Manipur Rs 85.95, for Mizoram Rs 44.3 crore, Nagaland 62.46 crore, Sikkim Rs 21.85 crore and Rs 93.02 for Tripura.”
In a separate tweet, “This package will help to create the necessary infrastructure for COVID testing, medicine storage, COVID beds, paediatric units, ventilators & oxygen storage, among other medical facilities.”
He also assured that the Central Government would continue to give all possible help and urged the North-eastern states to expedite the implementation of the ECRP- II package.
According to a press release from PIB Guwahati, the minister also said that this fund will assist the States to procure medicines, keep buffer stock, for keeping adequate stock of oxygen and creation of sufficient numbers of beds in hospitals at district and local levels including beds for ICUs. The Minister assured that the Centre will ensure regular supply of vaccines to the States of Northeast so that the maximum number of people is vaccinated within the next few months.
The Union Health Minister also informed that in-depth discussions were held during the review meeting where State Health Ministers offered their suggestions to combat the pandemic better in this region and to achieve vaccination for their people at the shortest possible time.
The Minister appreciated the State governments of the Northeast States for their efforts for controlling the spread of the pandemic during the period when this region was hit by the second wave.
While enquired about the possible threat of third wave in the Northeast region, the Minister was hopeful that the State governments are fully prepared and are equipped to thwart the possible third wave in this region.
The Minister also informed that Centre has been constantly monitoring the situation of Covid in this region and is committed to provide all necessary assistance to all the States to tackle the pandemic better.
In today’s meeting, the Health Minister of Assam Keshav Mahanta and Ministers from other States of Northeast gave an overview of Covid situation and their strategies to combat the pandemic in their respective states through brief presentations.
Health Ministers of Sikkim, Mizoram and Nagaland were present in today’s deliberation, while the Education and Law Minister of Tripura and Adviser of Chief Minister, Manipur represented their respective States in the review meeting. Senior officials of the State Government and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were present in the meeting.