The Government of India has announced that it has extended financial and technical support to the States/UTs for proper storage of vaccines in the country including rural areas.

Under the programme States/UTs are provided with Ice lined Refrigerators (ILRs), Deep Freezers (DFs), Walk-in-coolers (WIC), Walk-in Freezers (WIF), Solar refrigerators, cold box, vaccine carrier and Ice packs for proper storage and distribution of vaccines. The State/UT wise details of cold chain equipment provided in the last three years and current year are given below:

The Ice lined Refrigerators (ILRs) storing vaccines are able to maintain the vaccine storage temperature for 24 hrs. with as little as 8 hrs. of intermittent power supplies. Refrigerator Mechanic/ Technicians are provided to State/UTs for maintenance and functioning of thecold chain equipment and they are also provided in service training for repair & maintenance of these equipment. In addition, the States/UTs are also provided financial support for cold chain maintenance. The State wise details of funds provided is given below:

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today.He said that the budget for Cold Chain Maintenance is provisioned under Bio-Medical Equipment Maintenance Programme (BMMP). For BMMP, it was Rs. 2863.81 Lakh for the year 2018-19 and Rs.2510.52 Lakh for the year 2018-19.The Government hasalso provided 404 solar refrigerators to States/UTs to store vaccines.

The Government of India has announced that it has extended financial and technical support to the States/UTs for proper storage of vaccines in the country including rural areas.