New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who virtually laid the foundation stones of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) branches in six states on Tuesday, said these centres will provide a boost to public health infrastructure with prompt surveillance, rapid detection and monitoring of diseases.
The six states where the centres would come up are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
Disease surveillance plays a crucial part in disease prevention, control and management, Mandaviya said, underlining that “towards this end, the regional branches of the NCDC will play a pivotal part”.
“They will provide a boost to public health infrastructure with prompt surveillance, rapid detection and monitoring of diseases, thereby enabling early interventions,” the Union health minister said at the event.
“The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji is committed to strengthening the health infrastructure across the country. There has been a shift from token to total approach where states are our partners in the spirit of collaborative and cooperative federalism to ensure quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to all,” he said.
Mandaviya added that it is the prime minister’s vision to strengthen the health infrastructure across the country.
The government has, under the Prime Minister-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), approved Rs 64,000 crore for health infrastructure in the states, the minister pointed out.
He said COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, which can not only cause localised outbreaks but can also lead to a pandemic.
The NCDC branches will support the state governments in timely disease surveillance and monitoring, and enable early warning, leading to timely intervention based on evidence gathered from the field, Mandaviya said.
The branches will coordinate with the NCDC headquarters in New Delhi with real-time data sharing and information aided by cutting-edge technology, he added.
The NCDC branches would also be crucial in ensuring timely availability of updated guidelines so that accurate scientifically-backed information can be disseminated easily, the health minister said.
Currently, the NCDC has eight state branches with a focus on one or a few diseases. These will be re-purposed and new branches are being added with the mandate for integrated disease surveillance activities, dealing with anti-microbial resistance (AMR), multi-sectoral and entomological investigations, he added.
Mandaviya also inaugurated the NCDC Laboratory Block-1, the residential complex and the NRL of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.
The NCDC Laboratory Block will house state-of-the-art testing and referral laboratories concerned with bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases of public health concern.
It is equipped with 50 high-capacity laboratories — 30 bio-safety level-3 laboratories, five RT-PCR laboratories and 15 other laboratories. The laboratories will be designed to not only offer testing facilities, but also to provide hands-on training, capacity building and quality assurance services to the entire network of laboratories across the country. PTI PLB RC
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