Hike quota of oxygen to 300 MT, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh urges PM Modi

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the total quota of oxygen to 300 metric tonnes (MT), and ensure urgent supplies of vaccine for the state, which has been facing shortage on both counts.

The Chief Minister raised these issues when Modi called him up to discuss the state's Covid-19 situation and the measures being taken to tackle the crisis.

The Prime Minister assured of all possible help, the Chief Minister said later, adding he hoped the Centre would take immediate steps to supplement the oxygen supplies, and ensure that vaccine doses were sent to Punjab on priority to help the state effective manage the situation triggered by the second wave of the pandemic.

On the vaccine front, Amarinder Singh told the Prime Minister that the state had so far been unable to initiate the Phase III vaccination process for 18-45 age group, which will now start in government hospitals on Monday following the delivery of 100,000 doses.

For the 45 plus age group, too, the vaccine doses were in short supply, and while 1.63 lakh doses were expected to come today, these were not enough to meet the state's requirement, he added.

The Chief Minister informed Modi that the state urgently required 300 MT of oxygen in view of the growing caseload of critically ill patients, many of whom were coming from other states, including Delhi-NCR. (IANS)

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