No shortage of PPE, ventilators in dedicated Covid-19 fatalities: Govt

According to data provided by Choubey on a query raised by TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, India has 1.16 beds per 1,000 persons with its population estimated at 139.78 crores as per the 2011 census

There are no shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and ventilators at dedicated COVID 19 facilities across the country, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey told Rajya Sabha on Sunday.

According to data provided by the minister in the Upper House on a query raised by Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi, India has 1.16 beds per 1,000 persons with its population estimated at 139.78 crores as per the 2011 census.

In his written response, Choubey also said India has 15,403 COVID-19 treatment facilities with 15,54,022 isolation beds, 63,758 ICU beds and 2,32,505 oxygen supported beds while so far, a total of 344.78 lakh N95 masks and 141.46 lakh PPE kits have been supplied to states, Union Territories and central government institutions.

"There is no shortage of PPE kits and ventilators in the dedicated COVID-19 facilities across the country," the minister said.

According to the figures provided by the minister, Delhi has 162 COVID treatment facilities with 25,719 isolation beds, 2,617 ICU beds and 10,023 oxygen-supported beds.

Maharashtra has the maximum COVID treatment facilities at 3,328 centres with 3,50,340 isolation beds, 14,866 ICU beds and 56,737 oxygen-supported beds, followed by Karnataka with 1,809 facilities, 1,38,725 isolation beds, 4,963 ICU beds and 17,162 oxygen-supported beds.

Tamil Nadu has 1,259 COVID treatment facilities with a total of 2,25,149 beds including isolation, ICU and oxygen-supported beds followed by West Bengal with 1,224 treatment facilities and 84,510 beds.

Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have 939 and 757 COVID treatment facilities, respectively, while Rajasthan has 417 such treatment centres, the minister informed Parliament.

With a population of over 14.27 crore as per 2011 census, beds for COVID patients in Maharashtra per 1,000 population stands at 0.91 while Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of over 22 crore, has 0.71 beds per 1,000 people.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have 2.42 and 2.15 beds per 1,000 population, with a population of 8.27 crore and 6.68 crore, respectively, while West Bengal has 0.70 beds per 1,000 people with a population of over 10.32 crore.

In Delhi, there are 1.37 beds per 1,000 people while its population as per 2011 census is estimated to be over 2.06 crore.