New health minister approves ₹23,132 crore package for Covid-19 management

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet met on Thursday and took a slew of measures regarding the health infrastructure of the country, amid the continued 2nd phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. In April 2020, the cupboard had approved ₹15,000 crore package for Covid-19 emergency response, which was utilised to the utmost to upgrade the health infrastructure of the country, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

"Now we all know what challenges we faced during the second wave of the pandemic. So within the second phase, we are announcing a package of about RS 23,123 crore keeping the longer term in mind", the new health minister said.

All state governments are going to be consulted to chart out a future roadmap in order that oxygen, beds, crucial medicines don't pose a challenge ahead of the country. Out of this ₹23,000 crore, Centre will give ₹15,000 crore and therefore the state will give ₹8,000 crore, the minister said.