Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) Department has claimed that there was no shortage of funds to fight Covid-19 pandemic.
Reacting to media reports on shortage of funds and staff in the department, H&FW joint secretary, Ajit Kumar Ranjan, in a press release claimed that wrong figures and facts had been projected.
As per records ascertained from accounts section of the H&FW department, he claimed that Rs 3.58 crore was currently available under the State budget for procurement of medicines and other essentials. In addition, he said there was a provision of Rs 53.77 crore under ECRP-II for health infrastructure strengthening and Covid-19 preparedness.
Further claiming that there was adequate availability of drugs, oxygen and other inputs required for treatment of Covid-19 patients, the joint secretary said availability of all materials was regularly reviewed for timely action by the department.
Mentioning that there was a temporary shortfall of RAT kits that was promptly addressed, he said 7,300 RAT kits were currently available in stock.
According to him, the Home Department has already placed orders for additional 50,000 RAT kits from State Disaster Response Fund, 25,000 of which will reach the state by November 3and the rest immediately after Diwali.
In order to avoid such temporary shortages due to cash flow or other issues, Ranjan said the cabinet had decided on October 26 to constitute a committee of senior officers, including finance commissioner and principal secretary (H&FW), and to be headed by chief secretary that would provide expeditious approvals to the H&FW department proposals.
The department has temporarily engaged doctors, nurses, research scientists, lab technicians, ECG and x-ray technicians to tackle the COVID 19 pandemic. For Group-C posts like ANMs, the department has temporarily engaged personnel for a period of one year to address the gaps. Therefore, he claimed that there was no shortage of doctors and other clinical and essential staff to fight the pandemic.
“The State government has stepped up with all resources at its command in fight Covid-19 pandemic and any news contrary to above is false, misleading and misplaced,” he stated categorically.