State taking all measures to contain Covid, asserts CM YS Jagan

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has virtually inaugurated 144 Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) oxygen plants that have been set up at various government hospitals across the State.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the government has been taking all measures in containing coronavirus ahead of the third wave and as part of it, 144 oxygen plants have been set up in government hospitals at a cost of Rs 426 crore. Besides establishing 144 oxygen plants in government hospitals, the government is also providing a 30 per cent subsidy to private hospitals with over 100-bed capacity to set up an oxygen plant. He said that steps were taken to achieve self-sufficiency in oxygen production and storage, as the entire country faced severe shortage of oxygen during the second wave.

Further, the Chief Minister mentioned that the government had purchased 25 cryogenic ISO containers for transporting Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO), along with 74 LMO tanks. Oxygen pipelines were linked to 24,419 beds in various government hospitals at a cost of Rs 90 crore and Paediatric Care Units with 20 beds have been set up at community health centres.

Recalling the initial times of Covid, he said that 20 state-of-the-art VRDL labs have been set up in the State, increasing the testing capacity from zero to one lakh tests per day. With the possible threat from Omicron, a genome sequencing lab has been set up in Vijayawada, which is second in the country next to Kerala. In regard to vaccination, he said that 80 per cent of people above 18 years have received two doses of vaccine and 82 per cent of teens between 15-18 years were administered with a single dose of vaccine.

During the event, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inspected 20 types of advanced medical equipment brought by the Medical and Health Department and showcased at the camp office here, and enquired about their functioning.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Botcha Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Medical and Health Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, Finance Secretary N Gulzar, Covid Task Force Committee Chairman MT Krishna Babu, Health and Family Welfare Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar, APMSIDC VC and MD D Muralidhar Reddy, APVVP Commissioner Dr V Vinod Kumar, APMSIDC Chairman Dr B Chandrasekhar Reddy, Director of Medical Health (Drugs) Ravi Shankar and other senior officials were present on the occasion.