Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said 1,150 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants have started functioning in the last few months and now every district has them under the PM Cares Fund as the government was setting up their network across the country.
Speaking at an event at Rishikesh’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the inauguration of 35 PSA oxygen plants established under the fund across 35 states and union territories, he lauded the bravery with which India faced the biggest crisis--Covid-19 pandemic--of 100 years. He detailed how the country’s medical oxygen generation capacity and testing were ramped up while over 130,000 vaccination centres were set up.
Modi said the capacity of 900 metric tonnes of medical oxygen was increased by 10 times and called it an unimaginable feat for any country. “From one testing lab, we have set up a network of 3,000 testing labs. More than 130,000 vaccination centres have been set up across the country.” He said the world’s fastest, and largest vaccination drive shows their determination, unity, and resolve to serve people. Modi said the country’s varied terrain and large population were among the challenges India faced in its fight against the pandemic.
“Every person in the country should know and understand how we met this challenge in such a short time.” He added the production of oxygen is more in the country’s eastern part while there is greater demand for it in the northern and western parts. “Faced up with these logistic challenges, we worked on war footing level. We got oxygen tankers from wherever we could manage in the world. We sought the help of the Indian Airforce in the supply of oxygen. We provided money for one lakh (100,000) oxygen concentrators.”
{{/usCountry}}“Every person in the country should know and understand how we met this challenge in such a short time.” He added the production of oxygen is more in the country’s eastern part while there is greater demand for it in the northern and western parts. “Faced up with these logistic challenges, we worked on war footing level. We got oxygen tankers from wherever we could manage in the world. We sought the help of the Indian Airforce in the supply of oxygen. We provided money for one lakh (100,000) oxygen concentrators.”
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He was referring to the steps the government took when the second wave of Covid-19 triggered an unprecedented shortage of medical oxygen in the country.
Modi called it is a matter of pride that 930 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been delivered and soon India will cross the one-billion mark. He spoke about how vaccination was carried out in far-flung areas in Uttarakhand Himalayas.
Modi said the government no longer waits for people to come with their problems and reaches out to them directly for resolving them. “Now the government is reaching out to people directly... in the health sector too, the government is moving ahead with this approach,” he said on the day he completed 20 years in public office.
Modi said he had been serving people for decades, but it was on this day, 20 years ago, he got the new responsibility as the chief minister of Gujarat. “I never imagined this journey, first as the chief minister and then as the Prime Minister. Now I am entering 21 years of my journey. And in these 20 years, I have been getting affection of Uttarakhand... feel blessed to be here. My determination to keep serving people has been further strengthened in this divine land,” he said. He added he feels blessed to be in the state on the first day of Navratri.
Modi spoke about initiatives and projects taken up for development and improving connectivity in Uttarakhand. He said the all-weather Char Dham road will give a new dimension to the region’s development.