Centre allocated Rs 267.35 cr to Kerala to boost health infra: Minister

Mandaviya, who arrived in Kerala with a central team on Monday to review the COVID-19 situation, said the Centre has allocated Rs 267.35 crore to the state to strengthen its health infrastructure

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who arrived in Kerala with a central team on Monday to review the COVID-19 situation in the state, said the Centre has allocated Rs 267.35 crore to the state to strengthen its health infrastructure and will also provide it more vaccines to combat the pandemic. In a tweet, subsequent to his "intensive" meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state Health Minister Veena George, Mandaviya said that besides the Rs 267.35 crore an additional Rs one crore would be made available to each district of Kerala for creating a medicine pool. He also said that the central government has assured all possible help to Kerala, including providing vaccines to the state. "Had an intensive meeting with the Chief Minister and Health Minister of Kerala, @VijayanPinarayi ji & Veena George ji, along with State officials to review COVID19 situation in Kerala." "Central Govt allocates Rs 267.35 crore to Kerala under Emergency COVID Response Package- II. It will strengthen the state's health infrastructure & effectively manage COVID19. Additionally, Rs 1 crore will be made available to each district of Kerala for creating a medicine pool," he tweeted. He also tweeted that the "Central Govt will ensure creation of a Center of Excellence that caters to Telemedicine Facilities in every district in Kerala. For prioritising the health of children, paediatric ICU to be established in district hospitals with a 10 kilo-litre liquid oxygen storage tank facility." Earlier, the Kerala state Public Relations Department (PRD) said that Mandaviya has lauded lauded the coronavirus prevention steps taken by the state government.

He also termed the healthcare system here as "excellent" and assured availability of more vaccines for Kerala, and praised the lack of vaccine wastage by the state by saying that it has set an example with regard to administration of doses, the PRD said. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also said that Kerala was ahead of the national average in vaccination and the death rate here was low, the PRD said. Mandaviya and the central team visited Kerala at a time when it was accounting for more than half of the nation's daily fresh infection caseload. Kerala on Sunday reported 18,582 new COVID-19 cases, which was more than half of the national total of 32,937 fresh coronavirus cases. On Sunday, the Test Positivity Rate was 15.11 per cent in the state.