‘Ensure good coordination with Centre on medicines, oxygen, Covid-19 vaccine’: Rajasthan CM’s appeal to state MPs

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday appealed to the Members of Parliament (MPs) from the state to ensure coordination with the Centre regarding the issue of oxygen, medicine and vaccine supplies for Covid-19.

“I appeal to all the honourable MPs of the state to please take up Rajasthan’s case seriously in Delhi regarding oxygen and medicines. The honourable members should also come forward to ensure good coordination between the centre and the state on matters of medicines, oxygen and vaccines,” Gehlot tweeted in Hindi.

In his appeal he also sought the attention of the MPs to the state’s issue until April 30. “In the opinion of experts, the time till April 30 will be extremely difficult and so all the honourable MPs should pay special attention to this until then,” he said in a subsequent tweet.

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The chief minister’s appeal came after the state reported a fresh spike of 14,622 new Covid-19 cases and 62 fatalities on Wednesday, according to a bulletin from the state health department. Over 450,000 people have tested positive and 3,330 patients have succumbed to the disease so far in the state, according to government data.

Earlier on Wednesday, state health minister Raghu Sharma spoke to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and urged him to allocate 325 MT of liquid medical oxygen to the state by the end of April which is an increase from the 250 MT allocated to Rajasthan currently, news agency PTI reported citing an official statement. Sharma also asked for an additional allocation of 120 tonnes of Oxygen to tackle the ongoing Covid-19 emergency in the state, the report said.

In a letter to the Union health minister, Sharma also pointed out that the state’s active caseload stood at over 85,000 on Wednesday (96,366 active cases according to latest data) and hence the increase in the demand for medical oxygen. He also asked the Union government to ensure a steady supply of the Remdesivir drug.

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Meanwhile, many other states, including the national capital of Delhi, have also complained of shortages in medical Oxygen supply as the country is gripped by a rapid increase in daily new cases in the second wave of the pandemic. More than 300,000 cases were reported across the country on the day, its highest single-day spike in infections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high level meeting to review the oxygen supply across states and also discussed the ways to increase the availability, a statement from his office said. Modi stressed on the need for faster transportation of medical grade oxygen to various states, the statement also said.