A total of 850 oxygen plants are being set up in various districts of the country from PM Cares Fund for catering to the needs of the country to fight COVID-19 pandemic, said DRDO chairman Dr C Satheesh Reddy at the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Discourse Series.

He added that DRDO was prepared to provide all kinds of support when the need arises, and more flying hospitals would be ready, as was provided by the organisation in the second wave of COVID-19, to help the people.

“We established temporary hospitals specific to COVID 19 in many cities. These are modular hospitals, we call it flying hospitals, and these have been made in a way that the virus does not go out of hospitals. If there is any third wave, all the hospitals will be taking the load, and the government is discussing these aspects with various stakeholders,” said Dr Reddy, according to a Science and Technology Ministry statement.

He also underlined how DRDO is primarily carrying out research in advanced technology in defence and also concentrating on developing high-quality technology that will be beneficial for the people, at lower cost to match international level

Dr. Reddy was speaking at the online discourse series New India @ 75, organised by National Council for Science & Technology Communication and Vigyan Prasar.

Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST talked about various steps taken by the Central Government and DST to fight the pandemic and how to keep vaccines safe and to ensure it reaches every nook and corner of the country. He also spoke about ways in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) could play a greater role in fighting the pandemic.

“Technologies have been developed for storing and transporting vaccines to every nook and corner of the country. New ways of storing vaccines have been developed as per the Indian conditions. Convergence of technologies is the future, and AI can play a great role in diagnostics, telemedicine and will have tremendous importance in remote monitoring, diagnostics and decision-making in fighting pandemic,” Prof Sharma said.