Andhra Pradesh (4,960), Maharashtra (4,434) and Uttar Pradesh (4,016) were the States that received the maximum number of ventilators from the Central government which procured a total of 38,867 machines at a cost of ₹1,850.76 crore for distribution among the States and Union Territories, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Upper House, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey said in addition to the amount spent on ventilators, the government procured ₹1,540 crore worth PPE coveralls, ₹339 crore worth N-95 masks, and ₹369 crore worth goggles and supplied to the States and central institutions.
During the current fiscal, the Centre also released a special package of ₹6,310 crore to the States and UTs for Covid-19 emergency and preparedness in addition to ₹1,131 crore released under the National Health Mission for Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the health paraphernalia distributed to the States were 432.4 lakh N-95 masks, 178.14 lakh PPE kits, 173 lakh goggles and 242.1 lakh gloves, the Minister said.
As per the details provided by the States, there are about 92.61 lakh health care workers who would be vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of the ongoing inoculation programme, he said in an answer to another question.