By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday said that it has started distributing foreign aid received to fight the raging COVID-19 pandemic and 38 institutions across 31 states have already received crucial medical equipment and supply sent by other countries.
So far, India has received 24 different categories of items, mainly BiPAP Machines, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, PSA oxygen plants, pulse oximeters, drugs such as faviparivir and remdesivir and PPE kits and N 95 masks numbering nearly 40 lakhs.
Forty-three more institutions in states are slated to receive the supplies in the coming days.
The Union ministry of health and family welfare said that a special cell has been constituted to coordinate the receipt and allocate the resources among states and the allocation has been done keeping in mind equitable distribution and the load on tertiary health care facilities.
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Initially, states have been covered via the AIIMS and other central institutions where the critical care patients load is high and where the need is highest, the government said.
Besides, central government hospitals including DRDO facilities in and around Delhi and in the NCR region have also been supplemented through the aid.
The focus has largely been on tertiary health care facilities as they have a higher number of cases with severe symptoms of COVID and are often the only succour to people in the region for quality tertiary care, the ministry underscored.
The government maintained that as the materials from abroad are currently coming in different numbers, specifications and at different times, there is a need to reconcile the distribution logistics with the need to reach the materials as expeditiously as possible to the states.
It has been decided that since grant in aid is likely to be limited in quantity, it has to be optimally utilized by allocating it to high burden states as spreading such grants in aid thinly each time, over a large number of states, may not bring any benefit and will also lead to small packages travelling large distances, high turnaround times and possible wastage of resources.
Under the current distribution policy, the Centre is also seeing the requirement of high burden states in the context of number of persons admitted in hospitals as well as prior distribution done from the central resources and special focus is being given on states considered as medical hubs of the region, with high patient flows from neighbouring areas.
Hospitals which have received the foreign aid so far (region wise)
Delhi NCR
1. LHMC Delhi
2. Safdarjung Hospital Delhi
3. RML Hospital
4. AIIMS Delhi
5. DRDO Delhi
6. 2 hospitals in Delhi (Moti Nagar and Pooth Kalan)
7. NITRD Delhi
8. ITBP Noida
North East
9. NEIGRIHMS Shillong
10. RIMS Imphal
NORTH
11. AIIMS Bathinda
12. PGI Chandigarh
13. DRDO Dehradun
14. AIIMS Jhajjar
EAST
15. AIIMS Rishikesh
16. AIIMS Rae Bareli
17. AIIMS Deoghar
18. AIIMS Raipur
19. AIIMS Bhubaneswar
20. AIIMS Patna
21. DRDO Patna
22. AIIMS Kalyani
23. DRDO Varanasi
24. DRDO Lucknow
25. District Hospital Pilibhit
WEST
26. AIIMS Jodhpur
27. DRDO Dehradun
28. DRDO Ahmedabad
29. Govt Satellite Hospital Jaipur
CENTRAL
30. AIIMS Bhopal
SOUTH
31. AIIMS Mangalagiri
32. AIIMS Bibinagar
33. JIPMER Puducherry
Central government and PSU
34. CGHS
35. CRPF
36. SAIL
37. Railways
38. ICMR
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