India coming out of Covid more strongly than many nations due to PM's efforts: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts in the health sector have ensured that India is coming out of the coronavirus pandemic more strongly than those nations that had better resources, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Sunday.

The Minority Affairs Minister said the prime minister's efforts in tackling the pandemic have shown results and more than 1,500 medical oxygen plants have been or are being installed across the country under "PM-CARES".

Speaking at the inauguration of one of the six medical oxygen plants, being installed by Radico Khaitan in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, at the Community Health Centre in Rampur's Bilaspur, Naqvi said the six plants with a capacity of 20 cubic metre medical oxygen generation per hour are being installed in Bilaspur (Rampur), Bilhaur (Kanpur), Bhagwantpur (Prayagraj), Mahoba (Mahoba), Manjhanpur (Kaushambi) and Manikpur (Chitrakut).

He said better facilities and resources provided by the administration, along with precaution and self-restraint by the society, can make the country free from the pandemic.

Prime Minister Modi's commitment to good health and well-being of the people has ensured that India is coming out of the pandemic more strongly than those nations that already had better health resources, he was quoted as saying by a statement from his office.

When the first wave of Covid came in India in 2020, there was a lack of resources to tackle the pandemic but within one year, India has become self-reliant in terms of ventilators, medicines, PPE kits, N-95 masks, testing labs for coronavirus, ICU beds, Corona-dedicated hospitals, medical oxygen etc., Naqvi said.

From just 900 Metric Tonnes per day before January 2020, production of medical oxygen has now been increased to more than 9,000 MT per day, he said.

There are two made-in-India Covid vaccines available, over 40 crore people above 18 years of age have been vaccinated and more than 80,000 Corona vaccination centres are functioning, he pointed out.

''There are more than 2,624 Corona testing labs in the country. More than forty four crore twenty lakh Covid tests have been conducted so far and on an average more than 20 lakh tests are being done every day,'' he said.

India presently has an indigenous production capacity of more than 10 lakh Covid testing kits per day, he added.

More than 20,000 ICU beds are being added across the country out of which 20 per cent will be pediatric ICU beds, Naqvi said.