Dr. MansukhMandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare today virtually interacted with State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries/ Additional Chief Secretaries of States/UTs to review the Public Health Preparedness to COVID19 and progress of National COVID19 vaccination campaign.
The meeting was held in
view of the rising cases of the Omicron variant and the recent decisions to roll-out
vaccination for the age group 15-18 years and precautionary dose for identified
vulnerable categories. The meeting was officiated by the Union Health Secretary
Shri Rajesh Bhushan.
The Union Health Minister noted at the very outset that globally, countries are experiencing 3-4 times the surge in Covid-19 cases in comparison to their earlier peaks. The Omicron variant being highly transmissible, a high surge in case can overwhelm the medical system. He therefore advised the States to leave no stone unturned in ramping up infrastructure to manage a high surge so that India escapes unscathed from this episode of COVID-19.
Dr. Mandaviya
said in this regard that irrespective of the COVID variants, measures for
preparedness and protection remain the same. He urged the states to
re-invigorate their teams to work at the ground level and strengthen monitoring
and containment mechanisms. This was followed by a comprehensive and detailed
discussion on various aspects of COVID management including ramping up of
hospital infrastructure; increased testing; stringent restrictive measures for
breaking the chain of transmission; and stress on COVID Appropriate Behaviour
among the masses. Critical bottlenecks in medical infrastructure were also
discussed.
