Odisha spends Rs 472 crore from CMRF for Covid management

Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India], October 5 : The state government has spent Rs 472.63 crores from Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF) for COVID-19 management in Odisha so far.
As per an official release, 62 COVID hospitals have been established with 8245 beds, 1426 ICU/HDU beds, 531 ventilators. Apart from the hospitals, COVID Care Centres (CCC) have been established across the State with 16,828 beds.
"Amount of Rs 472.63 crores has been spent from CMRF for effective COVID Management and further funds have been committed for the fight against coronavirus in the coming months," the release said.
The Hospitals have not only taken care of the COVID-related ailments but also any other health diseases of the COVID patients. Plasma Therapy has also been started on a large scale and the entire treatment is free of cost to the patients.
From the extensive testing to oxygen supported ambulance support to treatment in hospitals, the Government bears all the costs and a major part of it comes from CMRF.
"Odisha received 9,47,417 Pravasi Odia migrants from hot spot States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi who returned back to their homes during May-July 2020. A total of 16,669 Temporary medical camps (TMC) were created with 7,53,673 bed capacity across the State. The costs of managing the migrants from the origin states to their Panchayats, quarantine for 14-days, an incentive of Rs 2000 for quarantine, etc were all met from the CMRF. Quarantine incentive of Rs 135 crore has been disbursed. About Rs 165.5 crore utilized for various COVID management activities to manage the migrants," the release stated.
"Considering the social stigma and the risk involved in taking care of the deceased COVID patients' bodies, the Government provide Rs 7500 from CMRF to ensure dignified cremation/burial. The frontline health workers and the support staff in the hospitals have been provided financial incentives to motivate them and to recognize the risks they are taking in COVID management. The Police has been supported with Rs 15 cr from the CMRF to ensure proper facilities and equipment for the personnel who have been relentlessly working since last 6 months in enforcement activities to curb the spread of the virus," it added
The Information Education and Communication (IEC) and awareness campaigns involving the community, COVID Management committees at the ward level and health workers, have been taken up on a large scale. Rs 48 crore has been spent for more than 46,000 ward-level committees in rural areas and over 2,000 ward committees in urban areas.
To provide relief due to the Lockdown, Rs 19 crore spent to help street vendors in urban areas. Even stray animals in urban areas were taken care of during the Lockdown so that they don't suffer from hunger and Rs 1.34 crore was spent.
According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 30,301 active COVID-19 cases, 1,98,194 discharged and 892 deaths.