Centre gave Rs 200 Cr to AP under Coronavirus Package: Nathwani

Amaravati: AP got Rs 200 cr from central government under COVID-19 package and additional Rs 58 cr is due, revealed the union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a reply to the YSRCP MP Parimal Nathwani, in Rajya Sabha.

In a statement here on Tuesday, Nathwani informed that, the Central government has released total of Rs 3,000 crore in Phase-1 and Rs 1256.81 crore in Phase-2 to the States and Union Territories under the COVID19 package. The AP's allocation was Rs 141.46 crore in Phase-1 and Rs 116.82 crore in Phase-2. The entire amount of Phase-1 has been released and Rs 58.41 crore from Phase-2 has also been released by the Centre.

Moreover, the Centre also provided machines worth Rs 3.1 Cr including one CFX-96 Touch Real Time PCR Detection System costing Rs 14.8 lakh and seven Automated RNA Extraction machines costing Rs 42 lakh each.

The State government received 1,70,722 RNA kits worth Rs 1.87 Cr from the Centre as of 11 September as well as 1,22,040 VTMs of Rs 1.68 cr and 2,46,567 RT-PCR kits costing more than Rs 13 Cr. The Centre distributed 14.63 lakh N95 masks to AP as of 18 September, as well as 2.79 lakh PPE kits, 31.5 lakh HCQ tablets and delivered 3960 ventilators.

According to the minister, the central government has taken a series of actions to support states for responding to COVID19 and remain prepared for the future pandemics. A package of Rs 15,000 cr under "India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package" has been approved by the Cabinet on 22nd April, 2020 with an objective to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by COVID19 and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness, said the minister.