COVID-19: T’gana govt approves taskforce for procuring medicines, injections

Hyderabad: In a bid to ensure regular procurement and supply of COVID-19 related medicines and injections as necessary, the Telangana state cabinet on Tuesday approved the constitution of a task force.

The decision was taken during the state cabinet meeting, convened by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The task force will be headed by minister for information technology and industries, KT Rama Rao. Other members include principal secretary (Industries) Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary (GAD) Vikas Raj, principal secretary (Panchayat Raj) Sandeep Sultania and CM secretary and special officer from the CMO on Covid, Rajasekhar Reddy.

The task force is likely to look after the procurement of these medical essentials from central government and other states as allotted and distribute them to the hospitals in the state.

Earlier last week, Telangana chief secretary Somesh Kumar said that there is no shortage of medicines and consumables in the state. 

“Telangana has an adequate number of medicines including Remdesivir and Tocilizumab. We have 90,000 Remdesivir vials and 63,000 Tocilizumab vials. The situation is under control. Hoarding and fear of shortage is the problem,” he said, addressing a press conference here.

The cabinet on Tuesday decided to impose lockdown for ten days beginning from May 12. The Cabinet also decided to give a relaxation period from 6 am to 10 am for the people for their general activities and needs.