Harsh Vardhan says India’s biggest benefit is a robust vaccination program. (File)
New Delhi:
India’s contribution will be essential in the fight against COVID-19, especially when it comes to making vaccines for the whole world, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday, assuring that the government has given top priority to research and manufacturing to ensure that the vaccine reaches the last person.
He made the remarks while virtually addressing the World Bank-IMF annual meeting on “Unlocking the South Asian Century through Human Capital for All” and “Investing in COVID-19 Vaccines and the Healthcare Delivery System. primary health care ”.
He said the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration was working on all aspects, in addition to devising innovative approaches to distribute vaccines in rural and remote areas, the health ministry said in its statement. .
The health minister said the current research agenda for COVID-19 is to provide an affordable vaccine and ensure its equitable distribution.
Currently, three Indian pharmaceutical companies in partnership with foreign or national research institutes are speeding up vaccine trials, the statement said.
India’s biggest advantage is that it has a strong immunization program and also implements the world‘s largest immunization program, with nearly 27 million newborns targeted each year, said the minister.
“We have an established infrastructure for the supply, storage and delivery of vaccines to the last mile as part of our universal immunization program in which we deliver approximately 600 million doses to children each year.
“The strength of these experiences in the immunization landscape, our best practices, and the robustness of our healthcare delivery system will be harnessed and augmented using a strong IT backbone to ensure that this enormous mission National Vaccine Program for Priority Groups Identified with COVID-19 Vaccine The Indian government will use an integrated computer platform e-Vin (Electronic Vaccine Intelligent Network) to manage vaccine distribution, ”Vardhan added.
He reaffirmed the Indian government’s commitment and assured that it has given the highest priority to research and manufacturing to ensure that the vaccine reaches the last person.
“India’s history has always been very inspiring as we have made tremendous strides in improving the health of our people over the past two decades. And now India’s contribution will be critical to fight COVID-19, especially when it comes to manufacturing vaccines on a large scale for the whole world, ”the minister said in his statement.
Emphasizing India’s role during the pandemic, Mr Vardhan said: “The inclusiveness of India’s response has led us to manage the pandemic right now. The COVID pandemic has disrupted normal life, but also provided a steep learning curve for us to be all more resilient and prepared for the future. These efforts are the fruit of the commitment of all stakeholders. “
India has followed a preventive, proactive and graduated response characterized by a “whole society, whole government” approach to dealing with the challenges posed by the global pandemic, he said.
Praising the private sector’s support in handling COVID-19 in India, he said its innovation, capacity and agility have supported efforts to fight the coronavirus in a massive way.
“PPE, N95 masks, oxygen, ventilators and diagnostic test kits have been developed at an accelerated pace to ensure self-sufficiency. The medical infrastructure has grown exponentially from a laboratory in March 2020 to around 2,000 labs to date with almost half the same goes for intensive care facilities and dedicated isolation centers, ”he said.
“The pandemic has taught us that preparation costs only a fraction of its impact, but the returns on investment are exponential,” he said.
Mr Vardhan said that due to the unprecedented challenges the world is facing as a result of the pandemic, India is using information technology in virtually all aspects of dealing with COVID.
The AarogyaSetu and ITIHAS app, a cell tracking technology, was used for monitoring and identification of potential clusters, the RT-PCR app for testing, the setup app for managing cluster information. patients admitted and all have been integrated into a single COVID portal, he said. .
“The AarogyaSetu app is currently used by over 170 million Indians, making it one of the most downloaded apps in the world. An online tele-consultation service has been launched to enable non-COVID-19 health services. So far, over 0.60 million teleconsultations have been conducted and more people are on board, ”he said.
The Union Minister of Health spoke at length about India’s preparedness for pandemics and its commitment to ensuring affordable health care for all.
“We have deployed a special and comprehensive economic program of US $ 272 billion, equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (Indian autonomy program), which includes a component to increase investment in public health and health reforms to prepare India. for future pandemics. “
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
