COVID: SC sets up 12-member National Task Force for Oxygen allocation to states; list here

The Supreme Court on Saturday set up a National Task Force (NTF) to streamline medical oxygen allocation across the country as India battles the second wave of COVID-19. An SC division bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah ordered the constitution of the 12-member task force to formulate & devise the methodology for the allocation of medical oxygen to the States and UTs on a scientific, rational and equitable basis. The Task Force will facilitate a strategy to ensure equitable oxygen supply to all states and will also make audits to ensure the Oxygen supply reaches the state from the Centre. The Centre will, however, continue giving oxygen allocation requirements until the Task Force begins functioning. 

Supreme Court constitutes National Task Force for Oxygen allocation

The Task Force, whose tenure has been established as six months provisionally, will also recommend measures to ensure availability of medicines to states and is also expected to plan & adopt remedial measures to ensure preparedness for future health emergencies. The National Task Force will also suggest measures to augment the availability of trained doctors and nurses across India and will facilitate the use of technology to ensure manpower is optimised for implementing innovative solutions in order to provide an outreach of expert medical care in rural areas. It will also facilitate the sharing of best practices across the nation to promote knowledge about the management of the pandemic and treatment of cases and make recommendations in regard to other issues of pressing national concern to find effective responses to the pandemic. As per the SC order, the Task Force is at liberty to formulate its modalities and procedure for working.

The National Task Force comprises of the following members:

1. Dr Bhabatosh Biswas, Former Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, Kolkata;
2. Dr Devender Singh Rana, Chairperson, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi;
3. Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairperson and Executive Director, Narayana Healthcare, Bengaluru;
4. Dr Gagandeep Kang, Professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu;
5. Dr JV Peter, Director, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu;
6. Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairperson and Managing Director, Medanta Hospital and Heart Institute, Gurugram;
7. Dr Rahul Pandit, Director, Critical Care Medicine and ICU, Fortis Hospital, Mulund (Mumbai, Maharashtra) and Kalyan (Maharashtra);
8. Dr Saumitra Rawat, Chairman & Head, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver Transplant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi; 5 “Task Force”
9. Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin, Senior Professor and Head of Department of Hepatology, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS), Delhi;
10. Dr Zarir F Udwadia, Consultant Chest Physician, Hinduja Hospital, Breach Candy Hospital and Parsee General Hospital, Mumbai;
11. Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (ex officio member); and
12. The Convenor of the National Task Force, who shall also be a member, will be the Cabinet Secretary to the Union Government. The Cabinet Secretary may nominate an officer not below the rank of Additional Secretary to depute for him, when necessary.

The Task Force is at liberty to draw upon the human resources of the Union Government for consultation and information, including the following:

• A member of Niti Aayog to be nominated by the Vice-Chairperson
• Secretary, Ministry of Human Affairs
• Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade; (iv) Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
• Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 
• Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi
• Director-General of Health Services
• Director-General, National Informatics Centre 
• Head, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

India's COVID situation

A record 4,187 COVID-19 fatalities in a day took India's death toll to 2,38,270, while 4,01,078 new infections were reported during the period, pushing the tally of cases to 2,18,92,676, according to Union Health Ministry data on Saturday. Registering a steady increase, active cases have reached 37,23,446 which comprise 17.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.90 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,79,30,960, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.09 per cent, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.