Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to hold review meeting with THESE 5 states on COVID-19 situation tomorrow

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will virtually review the COVID-19 situation, public health preparedness and response measures being taken in the context of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh on Saturday at 3 pm.

Earlier today, Mandaviya conducted a high-level meeting with Southern states and UT`s Health Minister`s and stressed upon e-Sanjeevani, teleconsultation, Monitoring home isolation and increasing RTPCR in States which are reporting lower percentage testing.

The State Health Ministers who joined the high-level review meeting included Dr K Sudhakar (Karnataka), Dr Veena George (Kerala), Ma Subramaniam (Tamil Nadu) and Thanneeru Harish Rao (Telangana). He also requested the states to accelerate the pace of vaccination of the 15-17 years age group and those whose second dose is due.

The meeting was also attended by senior health officials.

Earlier, he conducted a high-level meeting with nine Northern States and UTs and advised them to send COVID testing and vaccination data timely. The Union Health Minister also said that testing should be ramped up in the States where it has gone down.

He also advised states and UTs to ensure that those in home isolation are efficiently monitored in line with the National Guidelines.

He said, "This will ensure that the vulnerable categories of active cases in home isolation get the required medical help in a timely manner." The Union Health Minister re-emphasised the need for ramping up testing in the states and UTs. Those states/UTs that are showing a lower share of RTPCR testing were requested to ramp up tests through RTPCR.

States and UTs were also reminded to keep a close watch on the emerging clusters and hotspots and monitor the trend of hospitalised cases along with the deaths in the state.

Mandaviya said that with our past experience, ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate & Adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour’ along with monitoring of cases remains crucial for COVID management. The Union Health Minister also urged the States and UTs to adopt the hub and spoke model for teleconsultation.

According to the Union Health Ministry, "Dr Mansukh Mandaviya urged the States and UTs to adopt the hub and spoke model and ensure that more and more centres of tele-consultation are opened. This will enable beneficiaries to access expert advice from experts stationed at the district hubs."

He also said that e-Sanjeevani has been able to provide services to more than 2.6 crore beneficiaries where people can seek medical advice from the confines of their homes. e-Sanjeevani OPD is a flagship telemedicine platform of the Government, developed by the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Mohali under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). It provides free teleconsultation services to people in need.

"This will prove to be a game-changer and will be of immense value and importance for the hard-to-reach and far-flung areas, and especially in the northern regions in the current winter season," he said.

Mandaviya also urged the nine States and UTs to review and expedite the implementation of activities under the India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II (ECRP-II package) for strengthening the health infrastructure, an amount of Rs 23,123 Crores which was approved by Union Cabinet in view of the second wave of the pandemic.

"Health Ministers and the State authorities to plug the existing gaps by efficiently utilizing the amount sanctioned for various infra projects. With strengthened health infrastructure, we can meet any health emergency and public health crisis with better preparedness," he added.