Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday met Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi and sought additional allocation of funds under the National Health Mission (NHM) for the up-gradation of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in the state.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Dr Sudhakar said, "Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya appreciated Karnataka's efforts in COVID-19 management. The state has an inventory of over 50 lakh doses of vaccine and has achieved 82 per cent coverage in the first dose and 37 per cent coverage in the second dose among eligible population."
The minister further added, "The state government is planning to upgrade and modernise all PHCs in the state and we have sought additional allocation under NHM to implement it. The Centre has responded positively to our request. We also discussed strengthening trauma care, secondary and tertiary care in all districts across the state."
Sudhakar further said the state government is awaiting the Centre's guidelines on vaccines for children.
"The children's vaccine is in a trial phase and the Centre will soon decide after discussing it with vaccine manufacturers. We must not let our guard down against pandemics and the state government has released guidelines for festival season. We are continuing to conduct about 1 lakh tests every day and the positivity rate is less than 0.4 per cent. So there is no need to panic," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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