Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation as many as 35 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plants including two 1000 LPM plants at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) established under the PM Cares fund across 35 states and union territories on Thursday from the AIIMS Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.
In his address, the Prime Minister said, "The resilience and determination exhibited by the people of India against the COVID-19 pandemic is an example for the rest of the world. Along with the population, the varied geography of the country has been a great challenge in the fight against COVID-19. India has fought against the challenges in the form of supply of oxygen to vaccines and this shows the strength of unity of the country and people must realize this. I am happy to share that many oxygen plants across different states of the country are also being made available for the people today," the Prime Minister said.
Further, narrating the Government efforts in building a network from a solitary testing lab to over 3000 such testing laboratories, making the oxygen available to the people amidst the peak COVID-19 phases, production of masks and protective kits to development of vaccine and its distribution to every nook and corner of the country at war footing reflects the capabilities of this great country. The Prime Minister said that over 1,150 oxygen plants under the PM CARES fund are working and every district in the country has now been covered by them. So far more than 93 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered and added to say that soon, the country will achieve inoculation of 100 crore vaccine doses and go beyond as well.
At the SMCH, Silchar MP Dr Rajdeep Roy along with Silchar MLA Dipayan Chakraborty, Katigorah MLA Khalil Uddin Majumder Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli, Cachar SP Ramandeep Kaur, Dr Babul Kumar Bezbaruah, the principal of the hospital along with Dr Bhaskar Gupta vice-principal and Dr Abhijit Swami, the hospital superintendent and Dr Prasenjit Ghosh, deputy superintendent inspected the Oxygen plants and learnt about the functional status as well.
Later, talking to the media, Dr Rajdeep Roy said, "India faced a shortage of oxygen when COVID-19 was raging havoc. But the Central Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking along the state governments took initiative so that people do not face the crisis of oxygen. The two plants under the PM CARES fund here were also installed on war footing after hard work over the past four months. We want to assure the people of Barak Valley that even if the 'third wave of COVID-19' hits us, SMCH, with its growing infrastructure, is ready to combat the challenge."
Dr Babul Kumar Bezbaruah, the principal of the hospital said, "Inclusion of the two plants at SMCH among those plants under the PM Cares which were being inaugurated by the Prime Minister is indeed a matter of great pride for all of us. The plants are an asset to the hospital and the people of Barak Valley at large. We thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi sir and Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma sir for giving the hospital the much needed infrastructural facelift."
