2 container-based mobile hospitals soon: Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya

Health Minister Mansukh Manda­viya on Tuesday said two container-based mobile hospitals with 100-bed capacity each will be established in Delhi and Chennai, alongside 150,000 health and wellness centres, under the Rs 64,000-crore national health infrastructure scheme.

Of these, 79,415 health and wellness centres have been operationalised in the country. “India is the first country in Asia to have two container-based hospitals,” Mandaviya said while addressing queries on the sidelines of the briefing on Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. 

The Centre will monitor the use of funds after they have been released to the states. The minister said the Union government had taken a total, not token approach in health care. “This programme plugs critical gaps for a holistic and comprehensive healthcare and pandemic response system. It is an output of comprehensive thought,” Mandaviya said.

The PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission would incur an average expenditure of Rs 90-Rs 100 crore in a district on health infrastructure. As part of this scheme, 134 types of tests will be done free of cost at the district level. 

It will provide support for 17,788 rural health and wellness centres in 10 high focus states. Besides, 11,024 urban health and wellness centres will be established in all the states. The government in partnership with the states will establish integrated public health labs in all 730 districts, while at state-level, five regional branches and 20 metropolitan units of NCDC will be established and at national level, NCDC will be strengthened.

World’s first approved DNA vaccine Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D is expected to be available soon as the government has negotiated the price with the company and is working out internal approvals in the final stage. “The emergency use authorization is there and the government is in talks with the company. Production has already started and the vaccine will be available soon,” Mandaviya 

On Covaxin’s availability for children, the minister said that while Bharat Biot­ech’s vaccine had got a recommendation from the technical committee, more checks were happening before an approval is given. “It is not okay for the government to comment on this matter. Expert opinion and global trends will also be considered in making a decision about this matter since it involves children,” he said. Amid concerns over the new mutant AY4.2 that has been termed as the variant of investigation in the UK, Mandaviya said the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Centre for Disease Control were inspecting the mutation and studying its details.