Covid-19: PMO asks Health Ministry for district-level health action plan

The Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday asked the Union Health Ministry to prepare “district-level health action” plans for Covid-19 as the possibility of the coronavirus spreading to the countryside looms large.

For long, public health specialists have asked the government to focus on the districts as scientific understanding of the transmission of the epidemic there is the key to contain the pandemic in rural India. But the districts remain neglected.

At a high-level review meeting, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PK Mishra flagged the need for “district health action plans” for long term management of various aspects of Covid-19.

The PMO official asked all departments to work out a detailed action plan on the Covid-19 front for the coming months with scientific evidence mounting that the coronavirus is here to stay for some time.

“The need for continuously upgrading and augmenting human resources, getting the right mix of testing for effective case management, contact tracing and isolation, uninterrupted oxygen supply and other medical equipment, were all discussed at length,” said a statement issued by the Health Ministry.

Availability of oxygen has emerged as a critical issue last week with the demand overtaking supply and some of the states issuing orders preventing medical oxygen manufacturers to stop supplying the life-saving gas outside the state.

With more than 35,000 Covid-19 patients requiring oxygen in various hospitals, the Union Health Secretary wrote to the state governments requesting them not to stop the inter-state movement of medical oxygen.

“Medical oxygen constitutes an Essential Public Health Commodity and any impediment in the supplies of medical oxygen in the country may critically impact the management of patients suffering from Covid-19 disease in other parts of the country. Moreover, some of the major oxygen manufacturers/supplies already have existing supply agreements with hospitals in various states with a legal obligation to fulfil such agreements,” he wrote.

Earlier this week, the Maharashtra government issued an order stopping the supply of medical oxygen to Madhya Pradesh.

Mishra reminded the departments the need for continuous focus on informing the people of the need to maintain two-meter distance, use of mask and handwash.

“A behaviour change campaign will again be taken up to re-emphasize that unlocking does not mean lowering our guard against infection. The need to unlock, work and still follow the non-pharmacological preventive measures was strongly recommended,” the Ministry statement noted.