Centre sanctions Rs 199 cr to Punjab for emergency Covid response

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 21

In order to thwart the possible threat posed by the much-anticipated third Covid wave, the Centre has sanctioned a sum of Rs 198.98 crore to Punjab under the second phase of emergency Covid response package (ECRP), the government has confirmed.

As per the ECRP scheme, Punjab will contribute its share of Rs 132.6 crore for the implementation of the works through the Department of Health and Family Welfare (DoHFW) and the National Health Mission (NHM), Principal Health Secretary Hussan Lal told The Tribune here on Wednesday.

The objectives of the ECRP Phase-II will be to establish dedicated paediatric care unit in all 23 districts of the state for paediatric Covid management, establish paediatric Centre of Excellence (CoE) in one of the medical colleges for mentoring and technical hand-holding to district paediatric units, increase the availability of ICU beds, including 20 per cent paediatric, set up liquid medical oxygen (LMO) storage tanks along with medical gas pipeline system (MGPS), at least one per district, in public healthcare system, increased access to ambulance services (ALS) in transport and referral of Covid patients, and to utilise the undergraduate and postgraduate interns, residents, final year MBBS, BSc, and GNM nursing students for effective management.

The priority non-negotiable components of ECRP-II being planned in the state’s Covid response included Rs 10,437 lakh for 27 paediatric units with 1,134 beds, each costing Rs 389 lakh, Rs 500 lakh for CoE, Rs 510 lakh for RT-PCR testing facility in public healthcare system in remaining 17 districts, each costing Rs 30 lakh, Rs 666 lakh for 17 LMO tanks, Rs 405 lakh for 11 MGPS, and Rs 200 lakh for functional hospital management information system in all medical colleges.

The non-priority negotiable components included Rs 983 lakh for six-bed units at 100 PHCs, each costing Rs 9.83 lakh, Rs 3,500 lakh for 20-bed units at 41 subdivision hospitals and 26 CHCs, each costing Rs 35 lakh, Rs 2,392.7 lakh for 142 ICU beds at seven district hospitals, each costing Rs 16.85 lakh, Rs 2,300 lakh for essential drugs and consumables for Covid management, with allocation of Rs 100 lakh for each district, Rs 9,720 lakh for conducting RAT and RT-PCR tests, Rs 975 lakh for hub and spoke for tele-consultation services with six hubs and 230 spokes, Rs 1,200 lakh for availing services of 200 medical PG residents, each at Rs 25,000 per month for two months, Rs 792 lakh for hiring 200 medical UG interns, each at monthly remuneration of Rs 22,000 for two months, and taking on board 100 final year MBBS students, each at Rs 22,000 per month for two months.