AP CM Puts Health Officials on Alert For Black Fungus Cases

Amaravati, May 21: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on COVID and Vaccination and directed the officials to be alert for Black Fungus.

During the review meeting held at the camp office here on Friday, the Chief Minister said to prepare strong protocols for the usage of Oxygen in the wake of Black Fungus considering the precautions to be taken in regard to water while giving oxygen. He said Oxygen supply pipes, masks should be used of stipulated standards and added to set up oxygen generator plants according to bed capacity in all government hospitals.

He said to provide 30 percent incentives to the hospitals which will set up oxygen generators. He said to ensure Oxygen generators are set up in all hospitals within four months. He said Oxygen generators must be set up in hospitals with 50 beds and above and added that government will provide a 20 percent incentive to companies that come forward to set up new 100 metric tons oxygen production plants.

The Chief Minister said to arrange ICU beds in government hospitals for treating children. He said to focus on the production capacity of 300 metric tons of oxygen and these arrangements should be in place to deal with any epidemic in the future. He said to take steps to ensure that oxygen is produced in the state as per the current demand in the state. The officials informed the Chief Minister that the manufacturing industry is being set up in Kadapa to meet the demand for Zeolite which is used in producing oxygen.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to complete global tenders for Vaccine procurement as soon as possible and added that 4 crore doses of vaccine are being procured for 2 crore people and said to procure more doses of vaccine if possible. He said two doses of vaccine should be given to people above 45 years at first and later to people of age 18-45.

The Chief Minister said quality food should be provided in Covid hospitals and to give priority to Sanitation in hospitals. He said to take stringent action against the hospitals charging more than fixed prices from the patients and also against those who indulge in black marketing of Remdesivir injections.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to get scientific evidence for Nellore Ayurvedic medicine. He said to conduct tests on Nellore Ayurveda medicine with the officials of the concerned departments of the Central Government.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that two oxygen trains are running for the supply of oxygen and one more oxygen train will start in the following week and added that 4 tankers are being airlifted to Bhubaneshwar every day. They said the government is able to draw the oxygen wherever it is allotted. They said Oxygen is being supplied effectively using ISO tankers and an audit is being conducted on the usage of Oxygen in hospitals. The officials said the details of procurement, supply, distribution, and usage of Oxygen in hospitals are digitalized. They said 52.75 metric tons of oxygen production is achieved by restoring 9 PSA units and added that work to restore another 5 PSA units is in progress. They said modification of 12 nitrogen units will add another 11.41 metric tonnes to oxygen production. They informed the Chief Minister that four new companies are coming forward to set up oxygen production plants.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that there are 45,611 beds in 621 Covid hospitals in the state, of which 38,763 beds are occupied, of which 28,189 are being treated under Aarogyasri, and added that there are 6,217 ICU beds, 22,756 Non-ICU oxygen beds,‌ 16,638 non-ICU Non-Oxygen beds and 3,407 ventilators in Covid hospitals. The officials informed the Chief Minister that global tenders for 4 crore doses of Vaccine procurement were called on May 13 and a pre-bid meeting was conducted on May 20 and the last date for bidding is June 3rd.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Krishna Srinivas, Chief Secretary Adityanath Das, DGP Goutam Sawang, COVID Command and control chairman Dr. KS Jawahar Reddy, Health Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, COVID taskforce committee chairman MT Krishna Babu, Health Secretary( Covid Management and Vaccination)  M Ravi Chandra, 104 call center in-charge A Babu, Aarogyasri CEO Dr. A Mallikarjuna, APMSIDC VC and MD V Vijayarama Raju, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar, Finance Secretary Gulzar, Industries director Subramaniam and other senior officials were present in the meeting.