Centre tells states to maintain standards of health equipment

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday instructed states that there should not be any dilution of quality and standards in manufacturing of PPEs, masks, ventilators and other equipment.

In the meeting of the Group of Ministers, he suggested that stringent punishment may be fixed for the manufacturers in case of any deviation from the quality standards/protocols while manufacturing the PPEs, masks and ventilators.

"He reiterated that detailed advisories and guidelines for who should use which type of mask and who should use PPE have been posted on the Ministry website, and awareness regarding this is also being created through IEC campaigns," a ministry statement said.

Harsh Vardhan emphasised that social distancing and isolation are the most effective social vaccines against Covid19 and urged everyone to follow protocol of personal hygiene.

This was the 12th such meeting where the Group of Ministers (GoM) strategised on India's response to Covid-19 outbreak. The current status, preparedness and actions for management of Covid-19 related issues in states and the nation were reviewed in the meeting.

In the meeting, it was decided that states will be asked to identify Covid-19 centres or hospitals according to the already laid down guidelines.

Friday's meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep S Puri, MoS Home Nityananda Rai, Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandavia and Harsh Vardhan's Deputy Ashwini Choubey. The meeting was also attended by Chief of Defense Staff, General Bipin Rawat.

Various government departments like Science & Technology, Bio-Technology and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) were also represented in the meeting where they gave detailed presentations to the GoM on diagnosis, drugs and vaccine development for Covid-19. The departments also informed that they are working together to find the solutions and support for the management of Covid-19 along with the ICMR and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. IANS