Category: Health

Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

Food processing industry stakeholders to assess Covid-19

The grievance cell of Ministry of Food Processing Industries has been able to close and resolve 581 issues out of 585 received, with proactive approach and timely redressal. The task force has been taking up these issues with the respective state governments and other relevant authorities including Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs. The task force have also been in constant touch with leading industry associations and food processors across states to address any issues / challenges faced by food and allied industry so that it can run at maximum capacities. Grievances or any problems faced by Food Processing Sector, in either disruption of production or supply chain, during nationwide Covid-19 lockdown can be mailed at covidgrievance-mofpi@gov.in.

A dedicated task force and a grievance cell was set up in the Ministry, which consisted of senior officials of the Ministry and members of Invest India. Industry could reach out to the grievance cell directly or through various industry associations. The major issues which were received at the grievance cell included issues related to

  1. Plant shutdowns due to lockdown
  2. Logistics related issues, warehouse shutdown
  3. Non availability of labour
  4. Movement of staff and workers

Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of Food Processing Industries has chaired a series of video conferences with the industry associations, cold chain developers, exporters etc. on a regular basis for monitoring the situation at ground level.

The Ministry received various issues during VC interactions with cold chain promoters, on which the task force has promptly reacted and have taken up the issues with all the relevant stakeholders. Various steps were taken keeping in mind the necessities of food and allied industry to recoup with the new normalcy.

MoFPI is also a member of the Empowered Committee on Logistics and Supplies, and has been working to ensure that harvested agriculture produce can be supplied to the industry so that farmers are benefitted. Ministry of Food Processing Industries has taken several measures to ensure that the Food Processing Industry has been impacted minimally due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Scaling up of COVID testing centres (Hub and spoke model)

To scale up testing and enhance the reach across the countryCity /Regional clusters have been established in a Hub and Spoke Model to scale-up testing of COVID-19 samples in government institutions across the country. Institutes and Laboratories which have the capacity and expertise for both sample collection, handling/processing (BSL-2 facility) and testing (RT-PCR) serve as the hubs and they involve a number of laboratories which have RT PCR machines and the requisite manpower as their extended Testing facilities.

The Hubs are Government laboratories approved by respective Ministries /Departments (DBT, DST, CSIR, DAE, DRDO, ICAR etc) as per ICMR guidelines. So far 19 City /Regional clusters have been established in Bangalore, Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh/Mohali, Bhubaneshwar, Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chennai, Kolkata, North Eastern Region, Jammu & Kashmir, Ahmedabad, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Banaras, Palampur and Delhi city.

About 100 institutions have been involved and over 1,60,000 samples tested. Seven DBT Autonomous institutes have been approved as hubs by ICMR and they are performing testing for diagnosis of COVID-19 (RGCB, THSTI, ILS, inStem, NCCS, CDFD, NIBMG). 

They are also functioning as hubs in the respective Cities/Regions and coordinating the efforts with a number of other premier Central and State Government institutions. In addition, they are working closely with the respective State Governments in obtaining samples for testing and are reporting every day to ICMR on their testing results.     Collectively in about 4 weeks, these clusters have done nearly 1,70,000 tests. These clusters will now be scaled to nearly 50 in next 4 weeks and reach remote corners of the country.

NatGeo Film on Swachh Bharat Revolution gets Premiered Virtually

‘Wash your hands with soap and water frequently, clean frequently touched surfaces and objects’ are public health measures advised by experts to fight COVID-19. In short, a step towards cleanliness and personal hygiene are significant ways to win this pandemic. Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission has started working on these lines years before, even at grassroot levels, for the welfare of citizens across the country.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) was launched country-wide in 2014 with the target to eliminate open defecation and achieve better solid waste management in urban and rural India. What seemed impossible for the outer world was made easy by active participation of the people of India and their initiative in achieving this big feat. 


SBM has become very crucial at this moment of the pandemic, reminding us all how sanitation and hygiene are crucial to prevent diseases. At the same time the passion with which every village and citizen has adorned this mission making it a people’s revolution is also a reminder that nothing is impossible if we the people fight together for a common cause.

After the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission, India’s face has transformed from a country with the highest number of people practising open defecation, to more than six lakh villages becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF). The pillars behind the success of this mission are its 6,50,000 volunteers, or Swachhagrahis, mostly the youth and women who promoted this at the village level, making it a people’s movement.

In order to document such a mass movement, National Geographic channel in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has come together to make a film titled ‘Swachh Bharat: India’s Sanitary Revolution’. The film has been premiered at a special screening for the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March this year. It has also been screened on the NatGeo channel. It is now available on YouTube channel of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen, where it has been virtually premiered on May 27, 2020. 

The film portrays not just the success of the mission but the struggles, fights and innovations involved in convincing rural India about the significance of using toilets. The Swachhagrahis or the ‘Ambassadors of cleanliness’, mostly women, share their journey in executing the mission at the ground level. How difficult was it for a housewife, a Swachhagrahi, to educate the villagers about personal and public hygiene? How did a group of school going kids who wanted their village to be ODF convince the elders to use toilets? What measures were taken by the government to make this a people’s movement? The film has answers to all these questions and even more.

 
The film is a reminder to every Indian and every community that the determination to work together will always lead us to success. Any mission undertaken by the people of the country will guarantee benefits not only to the individual or the society but to the nation as well.
Now, when every country is fighting together to protect its people from the pandemic, let’s take inspiration from India’s largest cleanliness drive that has changed the face of many villages and has brought smiles and good health to its people.

Let’s win this too!

‘Hackathon’ for computational drug discovery

At a media briefing here today, Dr. Vinod Paul, Member NITI Aayog and Professor K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, summarised activities on COVID-19 related to Science and Technology in the areas of vaccines, drug discovery, diagnostics and testing.

On vaccines, it was pointed out that the process is usually slow and fraught with uncertainties. But, in order to succeed against COVID-19 a large number of parallel efforts are needed. This is being done globally and nationally. Indian academia and start-ups are working on vaccine candidates in the very strong Indian vaccine industry. There are three kinds of attempts being made. The first are indigenous efforts. The second are globally collaborative efforts where Indian organisations are taking a lead role and the third is Indian participation in global efforts. With such a large portfolio, followed by efforts at risk- mitigation for manufacturing and stockpiling, success is better assured.

On drug discovery, our scientific efforts take three approaches. The first is the repurposing of extant drugs to see how effective they are against the virus and in mitigating the consequences of the disease. Second, Phyto-pharmaceuticals and extracts from medicinal plants are being tested. Finally, using a variety of approaches, new drug discovery including a ‘Hackathon’ for computational drug discovery is being undertaken.

A conglomeration of research efforts have resulted in new tests and testing kits. These include new tests for detection of the virus and also for antibody detection. The latter are being used for serological studies,

The speed of these developments is made possible by the collaborative efforts of our scientists, institutions and science agencies. The regulatory system has also been closely engaged, combining speed with quality.

Ultraviolet Disinfection Facilities Developed AT Western Naval Command

As we look at partial and eventually complete lifting of lockdown, queries are already being posed as to what the “new normal” will be, especially for large production organisations like Dockyards and other naval establishments, where a sizeable number of workers will resume work post lifting of lockdown and these numbers are expected to gradually increase. This led to the strong need for a sanitisation facility for worker’s coveralls, tools, personal gadgets and masks.

Naval Dockyard (Mumbai) has manufactured a UV sanitisation bay to meet this emerging requirement. The UV bay will be utilised for decontamination of tools, clothes and other miscellaneous items, to control spread of the coronavirus. The challenging task required ingenuity to convert a large common room into a UV bay by fabrication of aluminum sheets electrical arrangements for UV-C lighting.

The facility utilises UV-C light source for Germicidal Irradiation towards sterilising items. Studies by reputed research agencies have proven the effect of UV-C on respiratory pathogens like SARS, Influenza etc. It has been observed that microbial pathogens become significantly less viable when exposed to UV-C of intensity 1 J/cm2 for 1 min or more, indicating effective sterilisation.

A similar facility has also been set up at Naval Station (Karanja), where in addition to UV-C steriliser, an industrial oven has also been placed, which heats smaller sized belongings to 60°C, a temperature known to kill most microbes.

The facility is placed at the entry/ exit points where it will help in mitigating COVID-19 transmission.

COVID-19 in North Eastern Region

Senior Member of “National Commission for Women” (NCW), Mrs Soso Shaiza today met Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed COVID related issues, particularly in the context of the North Eastern Region.   

Mrs Shaiza conveyed her appreciation for Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for all the precautionary measures taken in time to contain the spread of COVID pandemic.  She also expressed confidence that India will be able to overcome this challenge. 

Briefing about the activities during the current pandemic, Mrs Shaiza informed Dr Jitendra Singh about the services rendered in the wake of the nationwide lockdown, particularly in helping the people from North Eastern Region living in different parts of the country. She also presented to the Minister a broad road map about how to vocationally engage young boys and girls returning back to Northeast who are particularly skilled in certain specialised jobs.

Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the role, particularly by women Self Help Groups, during the last few weeks of the pandemic. He said, women in the North East had taken a lead in preparing several items during the lockdown period.  He made a special mention of the face covers being prepared by the Self Help Groups in a wide variety and fancy designs, which are fast gaining popularity all over the country. 

Dr Jitendra Singh also informed the Member of National Commission for Women about the various steps taken by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in the wake of COVID pandemic.   He said, the Ministry of DoNER had offered to financially assist and expeditiously process proposals from North Eastern States related to the health sector, especially for management of COVID and other infectious diseases.  Appreciating the role of various State governments of the North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh assured Mrs Soso Shazia that every care is being taken for comfortable return and sustenance of people coming back from different parts of the country. 

CSIR-IIIM & Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to develop RT-LAMP based test for Coronavirus

As part of COVID-19 mitigation mission of Country, CSIR has strategized its R&D to develop, integrate, scale-up, and deploy necessary technological interventions for combating Coronavirus pandemic in the country. Considering the multifarious problems created by coronavirus, which require interventions, the CSIR under the guidance of its Director General, Dr. Shekhar Mande has formed five verticals to coordinate various research activities into Digital and Molecular Surveillance, Drugs & Vaccines, Rapid and Economical Diagnostics, Hospital Assistive Devices & PPEs, and Supply Chain and Logistics.

Since testing is vital component in COIVD-19 mitigation, CSIR-IIIM, Jammu a constituent laboratory of CSIR has partnered with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to develop and scale-up a new Reverse Transcriptase-Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) based COVID-19 diagnostic kit for which a formal MOU has also been signed between CSIR-IIIM, Jammu and RIL.

COVID-19 RT-LAMP test is a nucleic acid based test carried out from nasal/throat swab sample from patients. The test recipe has been developed and successfully demonstrated using synthetic templates. It is rapid (45-60 min), cost effective and accurate test.  It has been tested with a small number of patients samples and validating the kit on more number of patient samples is planned and will be done together with RIL.

The advantage of this test is that the RT-LAMP based COVID-19 kit components are easily available and these can be completely manufactured in India.  While the, the current COVID-19 testing is done by real-time PCR their components are mostly imported. Further these tests are expensive; require highly trained manpower, costly instruments and a relatively high-end lab and cannot be deployed at remote locations in quarantine centers, airports and railway stations, etc.

On the other hand, the RT-LAMP test can be done in a single tube with minimal expertise in a very basic lab setup like mobile units / kiosks for testing at Airports, Railway Stations, Bus Stands and other public places. The end detection of the test is a simple colored reaction, which is easily visible in UV light, and now is being modified such that it can be detected in regular light.

After testing the accuracy of the kit, on a much larger number of patients, CSIR-IIIM and RIL will jointly approach ICMR for approval. RIL plans to rapidly scale up the tests for the larger population and use it for easy, rapid and widespread diagnosis for COVID-19 detection for the larger interest of society.

With the formal launch of the RT-LAMP based diagnostic test, the COVID-19 testing will not only be more rapid, cheap, easy and accessible but also would go a long way quickly isolating the infected individuals and mitigating the spread of virus.

Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director and Dr. Sumit Gandhi, Principal Scientist from CSIR-IIIM and Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, R&D and Dr. Manish Shukla, General Manager R&D from RIL side are monitoring this project.

 

COVID-19 led to develop innovative tractor-mounted sanitization sprayer

For months, Rajendra Jadhav had been following the news of how Corona Virus was creating upheavals by devastating the health infrastructure and paralysing normal life. The sexagenarian villager from Satana in Nashik district had the vision to realise that this virus has the potential to create havoc if it happens to enter his village.

The information about how COVID-19 infection spreads and continuous awareness messages about the need for sanitization that were pouring in from radio, TV and WhatsApp messages. It made him realize the need for a mass sanitization drive in his village and tehsil.

The self-taught engineer who has been putting his technical knowledge to use in making agricultural tools and machineries to suit the needs of the local farming community, decided to develop a mass sanitizing machine. Accordingly, Jadhav started his research in his village workshop to develop a machine that can be used for mass cleaning of roads and public spaces. 

Within 25 days, he came up with an innovative sprayer mounted on a tractor which is capable of sanitizing or washing large areas like roads, societies, doors, compounds, walls, etc.

The sprayer consists of two radial fans of aluminium, moving opposite to each other. In terms of mechanism, each fan sucks air from two opposite directions, which is released through nozzles at high pressure with minute droplets sizes. As the panel rotates 180 degrees, it can cover from the ground up to 15 feet tall walls. Any 15 HP tractor can be used to operate this sprayer. 

Jadhav’s machine has a capacity to store 600 litres of disinfectant mixed water in the tanker. As a result, compounds, doors can easily be sanitized with this sprayer. 

An added advantage of using this sprayer for disinfecting works is that it hardly requires any human intervention and thus prevents human contact.  A single person can drive the tractor and operate the sprayer.

‘Yashwant’ santization sprayer has been identified as a potential S&T based innovative solution in Challenge COVID-19 Competition (C3) organised by the National Innovation Foundation 

The cost incurred for developing this machine is around 1.75 lakh rupees, stated Jadhav. This sprayer is being used by Satana Nagar Nigam to cleanse and disinfect about 30 sq. km area in Satana. 

Upon seeing the utility of this tractor mounted sprayer machine, a friend from Dhule district requested Jadhav to make one for sanitizing his village.  The second machine manufactured by Jadhav has been deployed for sanitization in Dhule district.

‘Yashwant’ Sanitization sprayer has been deputed to disinfect areas under Satana Municipality  

Rajendra Jadhav has named his innovative sprayer ‘Yashwant’. This is the brand name he uses for all the agricultural tools he makes.                             
While Rajendra Jadhav has applied for a patent for his unique sprayer, he has also sent across his innovative design to National Innovation Foundation (NIF). The Yashwant sprayer has been identified as a potential S&T based innovative solution in India’s fight against COVID-19.

Rajendra Jadhav with the tractor mounted sanitization sprayer he has developed to disinfect large areas in the wake of COVID-19. The sexagenarian is engaged in further improving the sprayer machine.

About National Innovation Foundation

NIF is India’s national initiative to strengthen the grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge. It was set up in the year 2000 in Ahmedabad to provide institutional support for scouting, sustaining and scaling up the grassroots innovations across the country.

Kangra Tea could lower coronavirus activity better than HIV drugs

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is likely to replace hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) with anti-HIV drugs to improve immunity and possibly reduce viral replication, in the revised protocol. However, the chemicals in Kangra tea could also be effective in boosting immunity as they can block coronavirus activity better than anti-HIV drugs, said Dr Sanjay Kumar, Director, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), based in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Dr Kumar has revealed this fact during a webinar organized at IHBT on the occasion of the International Tea Day.

Fellowships Scheme
Fellowships Scheme

In his lecture, Dr Kumar discussed the benefits of Kangra tea for society and industry,  medicinal properties of tea for human health and the technologies developed and transferred by IHBT for combating COVID-19 disease. “Using computer-based models, the scientists screened 65 bioactive chemicals or polyphenols that could bind to a specific viral protein more efficiently than commercially available anti-HIV drugs approved for treating COVID-19 patients. These chemicals might block the activity of the viral protein that helps the virus to thrive inside human cells”, said Dr Kumar.

IHBT, a constituent of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has also produced and supplied the alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing tea extract and natural aromatic oils through its technology partners. The Institute has developed herbal soap with tea extract, natural saponins and without SLES (sodium laureth sulphate), SDS (sodium dodecyl sulphate) and mineral oil. This soap provides anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, cleansing and moisturizing benefits. The soap is being produced and marketed by two companies based in Himachal Pradesh.

“Tea catechins production process which has been transferred to M/s Baijnath Pharmaceuticals, and Ready to Serve Teas and Tea wines which could be game changer for Kangra tea”, added Dr Kumar. Catechins are natural antioxidants that help prevent cell damage and provide other benefits.

On this occasion, Tea vinegar technology has been transferred to a company based in Dharmshala. Tea vinegar has anti-obesity properties. Also Herbal Green and Black Teas blended with AYUSH-recommended herbs were launched. These products could be very useful for boosting immunity against COVID-19, say IHBT scientists.

Comfortable face mask by CeNS for public to use it for long hours

A team of researchers at Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bangalore, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, have developed a cup-shaped design (patent filed) of the mask that helps to create enough space in front of the mouth while speaking. It has been transferred to a Bangalore based company for mass production.

This snug fit mask causes no speech distortion, no fogging on glasses, and indeed, packs well all around, leaving practically no room for leakage while breathing. Another important advantage is its high breathability allowing one to wear it without any discomfort. Further, the researchers have chosen the fabric layers such that there is a possibility of deactivating pathogens sheerly by the electric charges that may prevail under mild friction due to the triboelectric nature of the fabric. These advanced-level tests are being carried out.

“While an ergonomic design for COVID-19 protection mask is essential for its ease of use for long hours, it is often not paid much attention beyond a few standard designs. A good design should minimize the feeling of intrusion and leakage around the edges, but maximize the ease of breathing and talking while holding its place,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.

With the increase of active COVID cases in India and other countries, usage of face masks has been advised for the general public. While the healthcare professionals can use the special and high technical quality medical masks, for the general public, a mask with moderate filtering efficiency should suffice. It should be comfortable to wear to encourage public to wear it for long hours. 

CeNS has transferred this technology to Camellia Clothing Ltd., a Bangalore based garment company, established a couple of decades ago. The company wishes to produce and sell around one lakh mask per day through different distribution channels throughout India.

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Ajmer Smart City is instrumental in fight against Covid-19

Ajmer Municipal Corporation (AMC), started taking proactive measure as early from 2nd March 2020, and further issued strict measures from 11th March, the day World Health Organization (WHO), declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. AMC sets up Covid-19 War room at Nagar Nigam and is headed by the Senior Ajmer Administrative officials, Medical and Police officers to monitor the existing Covid-19 situation and take further action to reduce the spreading of Covid-19 among its citizens. War Room is also instrumental in planning and implementation of various innovative strategies in order to create awareness among its citizens for following Covid-19 precautionary steps issued by WHO and MHA:

  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick, maintain distance of 6 feet.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Stay home when you are sick.
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces every day. High touch surfaces include counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water. In case soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
  • Stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings
  • If surfaces are dirty, clean them. Use detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.
  • Take your temperature if symptoms develop.
  • Don’t take your temperature within 30 minutes of exercising or after taking medications that could lower your temperature, like acetaminophen.

Key initiatives taken by Ajmer City Administration to reduce the spread of Covid-19 virus are as follows:

Public Address system (PA)- Awareness drives related to COVID-19 are being broadcast regularly using PA systems in association with fire and sanitation department of Municipal Corporation Ajmer. Regular surprise field visits are organised by City Collector and Commissioner to review the ground work and take feedback from the citizens directly.

Food and shelter: Homeless are being shifted to designated city shelter. Cooked food and essential things are provided to needy people in the selected localities. In War room, complaints are received from persons for requirement of food. Dry rashan have been distributed to needy persons after physical verification by Flying Squad Magistrates.

Use of Fire Tenders for disinfection: City fire force is using big fire tender to disinfect different locations like main roads of the city, bus stands, bus stops, railway stations, institutions, hospital campus, shops etc. small fire tenders are being used to disinfect whole city ward streets.

Government offices disinfection drive by Nigam health staff

COVID-19 Helpline number is established at city level and is monitored by war room officers. This helpline can be reached for food supply requirement, Disinfection and sanitation services.

Surveillance technologies- Real-time tracking of Disinfection and sanitation workers with GPS based technology.

Setting up quarantine facilities- Hotels and other private institutions are being acquired to Setting up quarantine facilities in the city. CORONA contact tracing of positive case is being done and persons coming in contact are being kept in quarantine centres as per guidelines

ICCC- Abhay Command and Control Center is being used by city Police and traffic department. CCTV camera footage is accessed for monitoring live traffic movement and public movement.

Movement of Migrants: RAJ COP APP is used for issuing the e-passes for inter-state and inter-city movement. Passes are approved by designated city officials for persons want to go outside of Rajasthan or persons want to come to Ajmer city. Stranded labourers of other states can also register on RAJ COVID INFO APP and e-mitra website and arrangements are being made for safe transportation of registered ones to their destinations. Pilgrims visiting Dargah Sharif Ajmer, who were held up in Ajmer due to Lock Down have been identified and have been sent to their respective places by trains and buses after medical checkup/screening and taking care of guidelines.

1 Crore Treatments – Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the flagship health assurance scheme of the Government of India today marked 1 crore treatments. To mark this milestone, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the first edition of Arogya Dhara, a series of webinars created as an open platform for discussion on topical issues of public health, heretoday. The webinar is titled “Ayushman Bharat: 1 crore treatments and beyond”. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS (HFW) was also present during the webinar.

Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, NHA made a presentation on the performance of AB-PMJAY and discussed the journey ahead. The webinar was webcasted through all official social media pages of National Health Authority and was open for all members of the general public.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “Providing 1 crore treatments to patients from the country’s poorest households since its launch less than two years agois a milestone achievement for Ayushman Bharat PMJAY scheme. These treatments worth Rs 13,412 crore have been provided through a growing network of 21,565 public and private empanelled hospitals.” “Ayushman Bharat will continue be a trailblazer with an all-encompassing humanitarian approach, to deal with various health-related challenges that will confront us in the months and years ahead,” he said.

He further said “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, is the flagship health assurance scheme of our Government, since its launch in 2018. It is providing affordable healthcare in the form of tertiary hospital treatment to poor and vulnerable Indians through a health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year. Its aim is to ensure financial risk protection to more than 10.74 crore poorest, most vulnerable families in the country and is a step forward towards achievement of Universal Health Coverage in India.”

The Minister conveyed his best wishes and gratitude to all the States who have ensured the scheme delivers on its promise especially in the unprecedented times of COVID-19. “Government of India is making persistent efforts to expand testing and make treatment of COVID-19 available for free to all 53 crore beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, further strengthening Government of India’s resolve, scope and capability to move towards universal health coverage. Concerted efforts by every health worker and all empanelled hospitals have helped us achieve the 1 crore mark,” he said.

On this occasion, Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched a‘Ask Ayushman’ chat bot on WhatsApp, a 24*7 AI-enabled assistant that provides information on various aspects of the AB-PMJAY scheme such as its benefits, features, process of making an e-card, locating the nearest empanelled hospital, sharing feedback and the process of lodging a grievance. One of the key features of the chat bot is that it is able to comprehend and respond in Hindi and English languages and it also provides text-to-speech feature for the users and can be universally used on all major social media platforms.

The Union Minister also launched a “Hospital Ranking Dashboard” which is a significant step to rank empanelled hospitals on the basis of beneficiaries’ feedback. The ranking will help NHA to take evidence based decision making for enhancing the quality measures and indicators of healthcare delivery across all empanelled facilities to further improve the beneficiaries experience.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan also released a “Special edition of the AB-PMJAY beneficiary e-card” exhibiting the milestone of 1 crore hospital admissions. Apart from the above, “Hindi version of the Ayushman Bharat PMJAY website” was also launched which shall enable to effectively connect with the masses and to empower them with access to right information through a user-friendly medium.

In his address, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that MoHFW and NHA have been consistently developing, sharing, revising all testing, treatment, hospital and related guidelines, insights and information to its beneficiaries, which is of great help in dispelling rumours and myths surrounding COVID-19.

Dr. Vinod Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog stated that since its launch in 2018, AB-PMJAY is providing affordable healthcare in the form of tertiary hospital treatment to poor and vulnerable Indians. The aim of PMJAY is to ensure financial risk protection to more than 10 crore poorest, most vulnerable families in the country and move step forward towards achievement of Universal Health Coverage in India.

Sh Indu Bhushan stated that NHA has utilised this period to leverage its IT systems, expertise and network of private sector stakeholders to support the Government of India’s preparedness and response in the form of managing the national COVID-19 helpline 1075 to conducting thousands of outbound calls to COVID positive patients and their families.

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Army medical COVID related assistance for Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has lauded the Army medical COVID related assistance for Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir, and appreciated the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) for responding to step in at the early stage of pandemic, in  order to supplement the diagnostic and treatment facilities in the initial phase of preparedness. 

In the context of Northeast, General Banerji briefed Dr Jitendra Singh about the latest developments and current status. He disclosed that while in Arunachal Pradesh, Military Hospital Tenga had 80 designated beds for COVID and 2 ICU beds, Military Hospital at Likabali has 82 designated beds for COVID and 2 ICU beds. Similarly, at Jorhat in Assam and Shillong in Meghalaya, Armed forces Medical Services had made available 110 and 247 designated COVID beds respectively, in addition to 10 and 4 ICU beds respectively.  

While receiving an update from the Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services (DG AFMS), Lt Gen Anup Banerji,  Dr Jitendra Singh had a special word of praise for the Army Command Hospital in Udhampur which had earmarked 200 designated beds for COVID cases and 6 beds in ICU for critical cases including civilian patients, in the  beginning itself. Similarly, he noted that the Army Hospital in Srinagar had also designated 124 beds and Army Hospital in Rajouri had designated 82 beds for COVID cases in order to supplement the facilities set up by Health authorities of the Union Territory government. In addition, the Command Hospital Udhampur was also providing diagnostic facilities right from the beginning, he added. 

Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the proactive support in the initial stages of COVID pandemic which had also contributed in reducing the disease burden.  He also mentioned the quarantine  camps and isolation facilities set up by the Armed Forces Medical Sercvices. 

Director General AFMS informed the Minister that the number of such hospitals is being enhanced depending upon the situation and availability of equipment from suppliers. He assured the Minister that in future also, the number of beds will be increased depending upon the situation.

pro-active measures taken by India towards COVID-19

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare participated in the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) through Video Conference, here today. India’s response on address of Director General, World Health Organization (WHO), delivered by Dr. Harsh Vardhan is as follows:

“Her Excellency Ms. Keva Bain, President of the World Health Assembly, Dr. Tedros, Director General of WHO & Excellencies,

At the very outset, I wish to express my deepest condolences at the loss of lives across the world due to COVID-19. I also take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for the efforts of those who are in the frontline of this battle.

We, in India, undertook the COVID-19 challenge with the highest level of political commitment. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, personally monitored the situation and ensured a pre-emptive, pro-active and graded response, leaving no stones unturned to contain the deadly virus from spreading.

India took all necessary steps well in time, including surveillance at points of entry, evacuation of nationals stranded overseas, massive community surveillance through robust disease surveillance network, strengthening of health infrastructure, capacity building of over two million frontline human resources, risk communication and community involvement. I think we did our best and we did well. We are learning and we are confident of doing better in the months to come. 

Excellencies, today there are compelling circumstances that have forced us all to meet virtually. The 73rd WHA is the first ever virtual health assembly, it is unprecedented, but it’s also perhaps the most important one ever; because as we sit and discuss here, the pandemic continues to kill thousands of people and also causing a deep global recession.

This is the time when humankind must come together. Today, I urge upon all Governments, industry and philanthropy to prioritise the long term and pool their resources, to ensure everyone benefits.

On our part, India is playing a key role in fostering bilateral and regional partnerships. Under our Prime Minister’s able leadership, India has supplied essential medicines to 123 nations as an expression of solidarity.

Therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines for the whole world is the only way out of this pandemic. Global collaboration is paramount. Governments, industry and philanthropy must pool resources to pay for the risk, the research, manufacturing and distribution, but with the condition that the rewards should be available to everyone, regardless of where they have been developed.

Today, in the two-day deliberations, we should share our learnings from how each one of us has tackled this catastrophe since January, how we can support the financial or technical gaps that some of our member states may have and agree to continue R&D in an aggressive and collaborative way.

In congratulating all those who are striving to save humanity, we welcome efforts to make all International Institutions more reflective of 21st Century realities. India will always stand with such efforts to foster meaningful and broad-based change.

I close my speech today with a loud applause for all those across the world who are in the forefront of this battle against a deadly virus.

I stand here to honour the doctors, the nurses, the paramedics, the scientists, the journalists, the delivery boys, security staff, sanitation staff and the police personnel – the forgotten roles who are today playing ‘super humans’. They are our real heroes.

Many thanks for the opportunity to speak before this august gathering.”

Minority communities equally contributing in the fight against COVID-19

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said here that more than 1500 Health Care Assistants, who have been trained under skill development programme of Minority Affairs Ministry, are assisting in treatment and well-being of Corona patients.

Shri Naqvi said here that these Health Care Assistants include 50 per cent girls who are helping in treatment of Corona patients in various hospitals and health care centres across the country. This year, more than 2000 other Health Care Assistants will be trained by the Minority Affairs Ministry. The Ministry is providing one-year training to Health Care Assistants through various health organisations and reputed hospitals of the country.

Shri Naqvi said that different waqf boards across the country have contributed Rs 51 crore in PM and CM relief funds for Corona pandemic with the support of various religious, social and educational organisations. Besides, these waqf boards are also distributing food and other essential commodities among the needy.

Shri Naqvi said that 16 Haj Houses across the country have been given to state governments for quarantine and isolation facilities for Corona affected people. Various state governments are utilising the facilities at these Haj Houses according to their needs.

Shri Naqvi informed that Aligarh Muslim University has contributed Rs 1.40 crore in “PM-CARES” fund. AMU Medical College has also arranged 100 beds for treatment of Corona patients. AMU has also arranged Corona tests, more than 9000 tests have been done till now.

Shri Naqvi further said that quarantine and isolation facilities were arranged at Khwaja Model School and KayadVishramsthali at Ajmer Sharif Dargah for Corona affected people. More than 4500 Jayarin belonging to all religions from across the country were provided food, accommodation and health facilities during lockdown. These facilities were arranged by Dargah Committee, Dargah Khadims and Sajjada-nashin. The Dargah Committee and its other associated organisations provided facilities worth about Rs 1 crore which also included arrangements to send the people back to their states.

Shri Naqvi said that face masks have been prepared on large scale under SeekhoAurKamao skill development programme of the Minority Affairs Ministry, these masks are being distributed among the needy. The Minority Affairs Ministry will launch “JaanBhi, Jahan Bhi” awareness campaign to make the people aware of social distancing and other guidelines for safety from Corona.

Shri Naqvi said that all people of the country are working united and strongly to defeat challenge of Corona pandemic on the appeal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The people belonging to Minority communities are equally contributing in this fight along with all the people of the society.