Modi urges CMs to boost Ayurveda amid COVID-19; 'Testing, tracing, isolating and quarantine- our priority', he notes

New Delhi, April 02: "Testing, tracing, isolating and quarantine should be our first priority", stressed PM Narendra Modi on Thursday while interacting with the chief ministers of all the States and Union Territories, further urging that the collective goal of the country should be that every Indian must be saved from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Further listing out the ‘must do steps’ that need to be taken as India entered the second week of a total lockdown, the Prime Minister urged the district-level disease surveillance officers to make sure that penetration of this strategy is optimum as well as the data collected from private laboratories allowed to test should be collated district-wise to be utilised for strategies on how to tackle the pandemic.

 

 

He also emphasised that supply lines for medical equipment and drugs and raw materials needed for the manufacture of these products need to be kept seamless, even more than supplies of other products. “Every State should ensure that there are separate hospitals for COVID-19 patients and the doctors attending them need to be protected. I would also urge you to step up online training of doctors in the treatment of COVID-19,” he said.

 

This being harvest season in many parts of the country, the Prime Minister said that while farmers and labourers engaged in harvest operations were exempt from the lockdown, some social distancing norms should be maintained even in the field. “As for procurement, we must find ways to do it beyond the route of Agricultural Produce Marketing Corporations (APMC). A truck pooling scheme should also be worked out with farmers for ferrying produce to the market,” he added. “Harvesting will possibly need to be done in a staggering manner,” he is reported to have said.

 

The Centre would be releasing ₹11,000 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund by this month and that it should be used for efforts to fight COVID-19. Significantly, he also told chief ministers that volunteers of the National Cadet Corp and the National Service Scheme will also be recruited in the effort to help combat COVID-19. “Other than this, crisis management groups should co-ordinate with as many NGOs as possible and strategies should be shared with all stakeholders as we need everyone’s help at this time,” he said.

 

He also urged the States that immunity boosting methods used by traditional systems of medicines in India such as Ayurveda should also be promoted as fatalities are high among those who are immunocompromised. “These are our traditional ways of boosting immunity,” he said pointing to the fact that an advisory by the AYUSH ministry had been issued in this regard.