Supreme Court Sets up National Task Force to Streamline Oxygen Allocation Across Country

The Supreme Court on Saturday set up a 12-member National Task Force (NTF) to facilitate public health response to Covid-19, including streamlining of oxygen distribution in the country, based on scientific and specialised domain knowledge.

Updated: May 8, 2021 5:48 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Shubhangi Gupta

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Supreme Court of India

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has set up a 12-member National Task Force that will assess and recommend the distribution of oxygen across the entire country. Further, the task force has also been tasked to suggest equitable distribution of COVID-19 medicines based on members’ scientific and specialised domain knowledge. The order was passed by a Bench of Justices DY Chandradhud and MR Shah.

“A consensus has emerged that there is a need to ensure that the allotments of medical oxygen to the states and UTs are made on a scientific, rational and equitable basis. At the same time, it must allow for flexibility to meet unforeseen demands due to emergencies which may arise within the allocated territories,” the bench said.

The top court said: “It is necessary that an effective and transparent mechanism is set up within the Union Government for the purpose of allocating medical oxygen to all states and UTs for being used during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The task force will be headed by Dr. Bhabatosh Biswas, who is a former Vice-Chancellor of the West Bengal University of Health Sciences. Other members include Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairperson and Managing Director of Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital and Heart Institute, and doctors from Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Mumbai’s Fortis Hospital among others.

The SC bench said the establishment of this task force will enable the decision-makers to have inputs which go beyond finding ad-hoc solutions to the present problems.

“The rationale for constituting a task force at a national level is to facilitate a public health response to the pandemic based on scientific and specialised domain knowledge. We expect that the leading experts in the country shall associate with the work of the task force both as members and resource persons,” the top court noted in its order.

The top court said the task force is at liberty to draw upon the human resources of the Union Government for consultation and information, including the following: (i) A member of Niti Aayog to be nominated by the Vice-Chairperson; (ii) Secretary, Ministry of Human Affairs; (iii) Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade; (iv) Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways; (v) Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; (vi) Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi; (vii) Director General of Health Services; (viii) Director-General, National Informatics Centre; and (ix) Head, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

(With agency inputs)

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