Airlift oxygen, give adequate vacc, allow Remdesivir imports: Thackeray to PM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday demanded additional medial oxygen for the state adequate supply of vaccines and permission to import Remdesivir to tackle the surge in COVID19 casesSpeaking at a virtual meeting held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi he also demanded that oxygen be airlifted if possible an official release said hereMaharashtra requires 1550 metric tonnes of medical oxygen to treat coronavirus patients every day and about 300 to 350 metric tons is being procured from outside he saidInstead of distant states if the supply could be arranged from neighbouring states it would be available early he said according to the releaseEmpty oxygen tankers should be flown back to refilling plants to save on transportation time if it was not possible to airlift oxygen Thackeray said State health minister Rajesh Tope told reporters later that the demand of flying back empty tankers was acceptedMore than 60000 patients in the state are on oxygen while there are 76300 oxygen beds and over 25000 additional oxygen beds were being arranged the CM informedConsidering its requirement Maharashtra should get 250 to 300 metric tons of additional oxygen Thackeray saidSpeaking on Remdesivir shortages he said It is not known how effective Remdesivir is but it surely reduces the period of hospitalisationThe state should get Remdesivir supply based on the number of patients it has he saidMaharashtra needs 70000vials of Remdesivir every day but is getting only27000 and it should be allowed to import the medicine he saidMaharashtra has about 5 lakh doses of vaccine in stock as of now he informedMaharashtra has 571 crore people in the 18 to44 age group We will require 12 crore doses Our vaccine manufacturers will not be able to produce the required doses in a short time The corporate sector should also be given permission to purchase vaccines under their Corporate Social Responsibility obligation he saidThe Centre should provide 13000 jumbo oxygen cylinders and 1100 ventilators to Maharashtra he saidModi had said lockdown should bea last resort but unfortunately Maharashtra had to impose strict restrictions the chief minister saidWe are ensuring that the economic cycle is not hamperedwhile the state is in the strict lockdown he addedHe expressed confidence that Maharashtra will succeed in containing the pandemicServices of retired doctors nurses and medical students are being enlisted to tackle the pandemic and facilities such as telemedicine and teleICU are being used to ensure that patients get treatment immediately he saidHe also stressed the need for study of the double mutation in the virus which has been found in the country to formulate the right approach to deal with the current surge in infectionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever