Govt announces Rs 15,000 crore package to ramp up health infra to fight COVID-19

The government on Thursday announced a financial package of Rs 15,000 crore to ramp up the overall healthcare infrastructure in tackling the coronavirus pandemic that has infected nearly 6,500 people and has left at least 196 dead in the country.

The government said an amount of Rs 7,774 crore out of the package will be utilised for immediate response to the pandemic while rest of it will be spent in the medium-term (1-4 years) under mission mode approach.

The health ministry, in a statement, said key objectives of the package include mounting emergency response to slow and limit the growth of COVID-19 through the development of diagnostics and dedicated treatment facilities.

The announcement of the financial package came as several states are reeling under mounting pressure to provide healthcare support to rising number of people infected by the virus.

Separately, a Group of Ministers (GoM) chaired by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan carried out a comprehensive review of the overall containment as well as management of COVID-19 in the country.

The GoM also deliberated on social distancing measures as well as strategy to check spread of the infection.

"The GoM was informed that all districts have been asked to prepare and strengthen their contingency plans to combat COVID-19," the health ministry said.

It said the several other measures including ways to boost healthcare infrastructure and devoting adequate resources to the states to create dedicated hospitals to treat coronavirus patients were discussed.

The amount of Rs 15,000 crore has been sanctioned under 'India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package'.

The funds will also be utilised for centralised procurement of essential medical equipment and drugs required for treatment of infected patients as well as to build resilient national and state health systems to effectively deal with future disease outbreaks.

In his address to the nation on March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "The central government has provisioned Rs 15,000 crore for treating coronavirus patients and strengthening the medical infrastructure of the country."