New Delhi, Apr 23 (IANS): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has sanctioned delegation of emergency financial powers to the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) to fight the recent surge in Covid-19 cases across the country.
As per the order issued on Friday, emergency financial powers have been delegated to the Directors General Medical Services, Army, Navy, Air Force, head of Medical Branches at formation and Command Headquarters of all three services and the Andaman and Nicobar Command and Joint Staff including Command Medical Officers of the Navy and Principal Medical Officers of the Air Force.
The emergency financial powers have been delegated under the Medical Schedule of Powers (MSP) to Delegation of Financial Powers to Defence Services (DFPDS) 2016.
Rajnath Singh has sanctioned emergency procurement powers of Rs 5 crore to DG AFMS and equivalent, Rs 3 crore to Major General rank medical officers and Rs 2 crore to Brigadier rank medical officers.
"Emergency powers to these lower CFAs have been delegated upto September 30, 2021 with a provision for revision/extension to expedite procurement of medical items/materials/stores and provisioning of various services for treatment/management/tackling of COVID-19 cases," the Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that this is a pro-active measure taken by Ministry of Defence to enable AFMS to provide medical services to the personnel of the Armed Forces as well as aid the civil administration.
Further, amid reports of shortage of oxygen in the hospitals during the second wave of Covid across the country, the AFMS has decided to import oxygen generation plants and containers from Germany to cater to the shortage.
A total 23 mobile oxygen generation plants are being airlifted from Germany. These will be deployed in AFMS hospitals catering to the Covid patients.
"These oxygen generating plants are expected within a week," the ministry also said.
Each plant has a capacity to produce 40 litres of oxygen per minute and 2,400 litres an hour. At this rate it can cater to 20-25 patients round the clock. The advantage of these plants is that they are easily portable. A total of 23 such plants are being imported as of now.