The remarks come two-day after the Health Ministry dismissed reports suggesting that ventilators supplied by the Centre under the PM-CARES Fund to a state-run hospital in Faridkot were lying unused because of technical glitches. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in a tweet had stressed that medical equipment supplied by the Centre is “not faulty”. “It’s appalling how even relief measures are bearing the brunt of an infodemic being fuelled by vested interests using baseless reports & incomplete facts (sic),” he wrote, referring to some media reports suggesting that “‘Make in India’ ventilators in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra were not functioning optimally”.
The PM also put emphasis on door-to-door testing in rural areas to stop the spread of Coronavirus. He asserted that localised containment strategies are the need of the hour, especially in states with high positivity rate in districts. Modi directed that a distribution plan for ensuring oxygen supply in rural areas should be worked out, including through provision of oxygen concentrators, a statement from the PMO said.
Unlike the first wave of COVID-19 cases last year when rural India was not badly hit, the region has been seriously affected by the second wave in several states. PM sought empowering ASHA and anganwadi workers with all necessary tools. Testing needs to be scaled up further, with use of both RT-PCR and rapid tests, especially in areas with high test positivity rates, he added. The PMO noted that testing has gone up rapidly in the country, from around 50 lakh tests per week in early March to around 1.3 crore tests per week now.
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