Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday that the Indian government is committed to strengthening the surveillance of infectious diseases and outbreak response through the strengthening of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Mandaviya laid the foundation stone for the NCDC Regional Branch in Assam, state branches in 6 states (Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and Mizoram) and BSL-3 labs in 2 States (Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand) virtually at the NCDC in Delhi.
He also inaugurated a temporary NCDC regional branch in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
Emphasising that these institutions under the NCDC will be in the interest of the local populace, he said, “The Government of India is committed to strengthening the surveillance of infectious diseases and outbreak response through the strengthening of NCDC”.
These new NCDC branches and BSL-3 labs will strengthen the country’s capacity for Pandemic preparedness and disease surveillance with the One Health approach. He also dedicated the Auditorium and Library block as a part of the Upgraded NCDC, Delhi to the nation and released several technical documents.
Expressing his elation at the event, Mandaviya said that these regional branches of NCDC will help in combating diseases with regional variations like CCHF, KFD, and Scrub typhus. Further, State branches of NCDC and BSL-3 laboratory once functional will augment the capacity of the region/state for preparedness and response, especially for outbreak-prone diseases by high-risk pathogens.
“The health infrastructure facilities inaugurated today, or for those whose foundation stone has been laid, will substantially boost our regional, district and block-level healthcare infrastructure and will further augment the surveillance, diagnostics and public health preparedness and response capacity for any impending outbreak or pandemic in future”, he said.
The Union Health Minister said that pandemic preparedness and disease surveillance anchored in strong health systems that reach all people, especially the most vulnerable, are crucial to ensure better protection from major disease outbreaks.
The Health also applauded NCDC for its contribution and said, “India has performed better than many other countries in fighting the COVID pandemic. NCDC has been at the forefront in instituting containment measures including community surveillance, contact tracing and response in coordination with the State and local governments.”
He further added NCDC is the nodal agency for Public Health Surveillance and Response, epidemiological support including outbreak investigations in addition to diagnostic capacities for bacterial, viral, zoonotic infections and parasitic diseases.
The Union Health Minister said, “Healthcare professionals and practitioners are like defence forces; they can never be in a complacent mood. They have to always be on the alert. There can be no lean period for our healthcare army, we have to strengthen and sharpen our skills for timely surveillance and disease detection.”
“As Prime Minister said in his last Mann ki Baat, a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. We need to enhance public awareness towards personal health to ward off diseases, particularly lifestyle diseases, also known as non-communicable diseases”, he further stated.
Mandaviya informed that a forward-looking strategy has been envisaged for the NCDC’s evolution through which it is planned to establish 30 NCDC state branches, 5 NCDC regional branches and 10 BSL-3 laboratories in a phase-wise manner for decentralizing the presence of NCDC.
He further said that NCDC’s decentralised presence will boost the capability of states to respond to the state-specific public health challenges both for communicable, and non-communicable diseases and One Health needs.
The Health Minister commended the efforts of state governments for taking these initiatives forward and emphasized the need for collective and collaborative efforts between the Centre and States to enhance the country’s capacity to tackle future Pandemics. He also cautioned all the stakeholders of any slack in performing their duty.
