Customs duty and health cess on the import of Covid vaccines and oxygen are to be waived with immediate effect for a period of three months, the centre said Saturday after a high-level meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India battles a devastating second wave of infections.
The waiver will include import of equipment related to supplying patients - whether due to Covid or otherwise - with oxygen, such as generators, storage tanks, filling systems and concentrators.
The centre has also appointed a nodal officer to deal with the customs clearance issues.
This, the centre said, would "boost availability of these items, as well as make them cheaper".
India currently has two Covid vaccines, both of which are produced domestically. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech makes Covaxin and Pune-based Serum Institute manufactures Covishield.
A third - Russia's Sputnik V - has been cleared and will be made by Hyderabad's Virchow Biotech.
Faced with an avalanche of criticism over poor planning and lack of necessary infrastructure, this is the Prime Minister's third Covid-related meeting in the past three days.
On Friday he met with reps from oxygen manufacturers to discuss production and transportation. The day before he spoke to government officials to increase domestic production of medical oxygen.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister, in a televised address to the nation, acknowledged the sharp increase in demand for oxygen, and said the government was working to ensure its availability.
This morning India reported nearly 3.5 lakh new Covid infections (File)
The oxygen crisis - precipitated by an avalanche of infections over the past month - has snowballed over the past 72 hours, with multiple hospitals across India red-flagging fast-depleting stocks.
This morning six people died at a private hospital in Punjab's Amritsar.
At Delhi's Jaipur Golden Hospital, 25 people died Friday night because of a lack of oxygen.
On the same day, at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, another 25 died; the hospital told NDTV it was unclear how many were due to oxygen deprivation, but stressed that the crisis was very real.
Multiple hospitals from across the country have issued frantic appeals for help over the past three days; this morning Delhi's Moolchand, Fortis and Batra hospitals joined that list.
The centre - under immense fire - is scrambling to increase production and distribute it evenly. It is also racing to import oxygen - as much as 50,000 metric tonnes - to bridge the immediate gap.
Among these measures are the setting up of 162 oxygen-generating plants, orders freeing transportation of oxygen across state borders (to settle squabbles between states) and those diverting industrial-grade oxygen from state and privately-owned manufacturing facilities.
The centre is also airlifting empty oxygen tanks - to be used to distribute the gas as and when production increases - from abroad. Earlier today ITC Ltd. said it would fly in 24 with help from Germany company Linde, and the IAF brought in four from Singapore.
India is battling a tsunami of infections - this morning nearly 3.5 lakh new cases were reported. The active caseload is now over 25.5 lakh and the number of deaths is rapidly closing on two lakhs.
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