The country has witnessed a severe shortage of medical oxygen due to the rising number of Covid cases. People are dying due to the 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, “The Supreme Court on Saturday constituted a National Task Force to assess and recommend the need for distribution of oxygen across the country.”
Along with the equal and fair distribution of oxygen, the Task Force will also ensure the availability of medicines to the state-run hospitals to treat the infection.
The newly built task force will initiate the work within a week. The SC in its statement said, "the rationale to form the Task Force is to facilitate the public health response towards pandemic based on scientific and domain knowledge."
It may be noted here that the Task Force will
have to submit its report to the Centre and not the apex court.
Also Read: Petition filed with NHRC over deaths due to lack of O2 across India
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to the Chief Ministers of Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu to review the Covid-19 situation in the states, as per the government source. In the past few days, PM Modi has been interacting with the Chief Ministers of the states telephonically to check the situation of the pandemic.
Members who have been elected for the National Task Force are:
·1. Dr Bhabatosh Biswas, former Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, Kolkata
2. Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairperson and Managing Director, Medanta Hospital and Heart Institute, Gurugram
3. Dr Devender Singh Rana, Chairperson, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi
·4. Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairperson and Executive Director, Narayana Healthcare, Bengaluru
·5. Dr Gagandeep Kang, Professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
·6. Dr JV Peter, Director, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
·7. Dr Rahul Pandit, Director, Critical Care Medicine and ICU, Fortis Hospital, Mulund (Mumbai, Maharashtra) and Kalyan (Maharashtra)
·8. Dr Saumitra Rawat, Chairman and Head, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver Transplant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi
9. Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin, Senior Professor and Head of Department of Hepatology, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS), Delhi
10. Dr Zarir F Udwadia, Consultant Chest Physician, Hinduja Hospital, Breach Candy Hospital and Parsee General Hospital, Mumbai
·
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.