The country has witnessed a severe shortage ofmedical oxygen due to the rising number of Covid cases. People are dying due tothe lack of supply of oxygen in the hospital. States like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,West Bengal and Karnataka have been devastated due to lack of medical oxygen.
As per the reports by news agency, “TheSupreme Court on Saturday constituted a National Task Force to assess andrecommend the need for distribution of oxygen across the country.”
Along with the equal and fair distribution ofoxygen, the Task Force will also ensure the availability of medicines to thestate-run hospitals to treat the infection.
The newly built task force will initiate thework within a week. The SC in its statement said, "the rationale to formthe Task Force is to facilitate the public health response towards pandemicbased on scientific and domain knowledge."
It may be noted here that the Task Force willhave to submit its report to the Centre and not the apex court.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasspoken to the Chief Ministers of Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh,and Tamil Nadu to review the Covid-19 situation in the states, as per thegovernment source. In the past few days, PM Modi has been interacting with theChief Ministers of the states telephonically to check the situation of thepandemic.
Members who have been elected for the National Task Force are:
·1. DrBhabatosh Biswas, former Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of HealthSciences, Kolkata
2. DrNaresh Trehan, Chairperson and Managing Director, Medanta Hospital and HeartInstitute, Gurugram
3. DrDevender Singh Rana, Chairperson, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital,Delhi
·4. DrDevi Prasad Shetty, Chairperson and Executive Director, Narayana Healthcare,Bengaluru
·5. DrGagandeep Kang, Professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
·6. DrJV Peter, Director, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
·7. DrRahul Pandit, Director, Critical Care Medicine and ICU, Fortis Hospital, Mulund(Mumbai, Maharashtra) and Kalyan (Maharashtra)
·8. DrSaumitra Rawat, Chairman and Head, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology andLiver Transplant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi
9. DrShiv Kumar Sarin, Senior Professor and Head of Department of Hepatology,Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS), Delhi
10. DrZarir F Udwadia, Consultant Chest Physician, Hinduja Hospital, Breach CandyHospital and Parsee General Hospital, Mumbai
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Two more members will be from the Government and the Cabinet Secretary will be the Convenor of this National Task Force constituted for the scientific allocation of medical oxygen.