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Mansukh Mandaviya assures Centre's aid in boosting Kerala's health infrastructure, availability of Covid-19 vaccines
The announcements came after Mandaviya met with Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, state health minister Veena George and other state officials in Thiruvananthapuram.
Union minister of health and family welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday announced that the Centre allocated ₹267.35 crore to Kerala to improve the state’s health infrastructure and effectively manage Covid-19. The minister further said that an additional sum of ₹1 crore will also be provided to each district in the state for creating a medicine pool.
The announcements came after Mandaviya met with Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, state health minister Veena George and other state officials in Thiruvananthapuram. The central minister is currently in the state to discuss the Covid-19 situation.
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“Central Govt allocates ₹267.35 crore to Kerala under Emergency COVID Response Package- II. It will strengthen state’s health infrastructure & effectively manage #COVID19. Additionally, ₹1 crore will be made available to each district of Kerala for creating medicine pool,” Mandaviya tweeted following the meeting.
Mandaviya said that a centre of excellence that caters to telemedicine facilities in every district would be created. Also, a paediatric intensive care unit would be established in district hospitals to prioritise the health of children, he added.
“Central Govt will ensure creation of a Centre of Excellence that caters to Telemedicine Facilities in every district in Kerala. For prioritising health of children, paediatric ICU to be established in district hospitals with 10 kilo-litre liquid oxygen storage tank facility,” he said in a subsequent tweet. Further, the Union government has also assured all possible assistance to Kerala, including providing Covid-19 vaccines, he added.
Meanwhile, Kerala continued to report a high number of daily new infections of Covid-19. On Sunday, 18,582 people tested positive for the disease with a high test positivity rate (TPR) of 15.11%, which accounted for more than half of the national tally of 32,937 cases. On Monday, the single-day infection tally fell to 12,294 cases while 142 people had lost their lives. The death toll climbed to 18,743 while the active caseload was recorded at 172,239, according to a bulletin from the state government.
Following the meeting, the Union minister had lauded the steps taken by the state government in preventing the disease, news agency PTI reported citing a press release from the Kerala public relations department. Mandaviya had also praised the lack of vaccine wastage in the state and also assured availability of vaccines to the state. The central ministry’s data showed that 24,271,938 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Kerala as of 7am on Monday.
