Amid apprehensions of shortage of medical oxygen with rising cases, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct urgent steps to ensure adequate supplies from other states. At the same time, the Chief Minister also sought expeditious release of Rs 200 crore that the State Government had requested as the next tranche of central aid for COVID-19 management.
With experts suggesting possible aggravation of COVID-19 conditions due to stubble burning, the Chief Minister also reiterated his demand for fiscal aid by the Centre to farmers for defraying the cost on management of paddy straw.
The CM maintained that even though the State Govt is launching an aggressive media campaign to educate farmers and people in general, giving the linkage with COVID-19, he insisted that it was imperative for the Central Government to step in with the Rs 100 per quintal compensation the State has been seeking for the farmers to manage the paddy straw. During a virtual meeting with the PM, the Chief Minister also urged him to direct the Chief Controllers of Explosives, Nagpur, to clear the license request for establishment of a liquid medical oxygen plant at Government Medical College, Patiala, by HLL India Limited, under the PM Swasthya Surkhsha Yojna (PMSSYSY).
The Prime Minister, while promising to look into the Chief Minister’s requests, suggested that the State Government should strengthen its COVID-19 awareness efforts by involving the civil society even more aggressively and making announcements from Gurdwaras and other religious places.
Modi also expressed confidence that Punjab would be able to reduce the positivity rate to less than five percent and bring down the COVID Fatality Rate (CFR).
ON SUPPLY OF MEDICAL OXYGEN
Noting that government and private hospitals in Punjab could end up facing shortage of medical Oxygen supply due to the late surge of COVID-19 cases, Capt Amarinder informed the PM that with no manufacturers of medical oxygen, the State was largely dependent on three big manufacturers for liquid oxygen — Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), and Panipat (Haryana). Dehradun and Panipat plants are not supplying oxygen as per the state’s demand, he said, adding that the Panipat plant can supply more oxygen if supply to Panipat Refinery is curtailed. “Punjab Government, on its part, is in talks with industry to convert industrial oxygen to medical oxygen,” he said.
ON FISCAL PACKAGE FOR COVID
Demanding financial assistance, the Chief Minister pointed out that the Central Govt has released Rs 131.22 crore from the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund, and after submitting a Utilization Certificate for the whole amount, the State had requested the Centre for immediate release of Rs 200 crore, which is awaited. “The Govt of India was requested to reconsider the limit of 35% expenditure for COVID relief under SDRF from the overall availability of the resource envelope, but the Centre is still continuing with 35 percent limit on SDRF for COVID on yearly basis,” he pointed while requesting the PM to make this limit as overall limit or removed altogether as the pandemic is going to stay for a long time.
STRENGTHENING MEDICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
To further strengthen the state’s fight against COVID-19, the Chief Minister also requested that installation of ventilators provided by the Centre be completed at the earliest. He also pointed out the complaints of their malfunctioning by both public and private healthcare institutions. The Chief Minister urged the Centre to direct the PGIMER, Chandigarh, to add more ICU beds, and also to strengthen their Satellite Centre at Sangrur and initiate work in Ferozepur, as requested even earlier. AIIMS, Bathinda may be asked to increase beds for COVID, which is currently only 20, he added.
STATE’s COVID STATUS
Updating the Prime Minister on the state’s COVID situation, Capt Amarinder said that the last three to four weeks had seen surge in cases, and, on an average, in the past week, around 2400-2500 cases and around 55-60 mortalities were reported daily. “The main concern is the Case Fatality Ratio (CFR), which remains high at 2.9 percent despite some reduction in the past one week,” he said while listing several measures being undertaken to check CFR, especially in the nine worst-affected districts of the state.
ON HINDRANCES
“The major problem is the casual (chalda hai) attitude of Punjabis, who do not take minor symptoms seriously. The problem has been compounded by the ongoing protests, where even certain parties, like Lok Insaaf Party, have been spreading propaganda against the need to wear masks,” he said, adding that 25 percent people, especially in congested areas, were not wearing masks and the police had been fining 4,000 to 5,000 violators every day.
The Chief Minister also referred to the recent “disinformation campaign” by mischief mongers, some of whom had political links also and had been carrying out a very organized campaign, terming COVID as a conspiracy by Governments of India and Punjab and spreading false information on harvesting of organs. “This became very active on social media, and some panchayats passed resolutions against testing, videos went viral and a general perception of fear was created among people against COVID testing,” he said adding that the situation had now improved, and the state is currently doing around 30,000 tests daily on both RT-PCR and RAT, and aims to take it to 40,000 soon.