Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Dr Harsh Vardhan interacts with
social media users during Sunday Samvaad-2
“Atma Nirbhar Bharat underlines Government’s commitment for Increased
Investments in Public Health and other health reforms to prepare India for
future pandemics”
“No significant mutation in SARS-CoV-2 in India”
“ICMR is actively exploring saliva-based test for COVID-19”
Minister dispels doubts raised over failure of one vaccine in clinical trials,
says trials are continuing only after expert committee reappraisal
Posted On: 20 SEP 2020 3:58PM by PIB Delhi
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union
Minister of Health and Family Welfare answered questions posed by his social
media interactors on the Sunday Samvaad platform for a second time today. These questions
covered a multitude of queries concerning not only the current situation of
COVID but also the government’s approach to it and related topics like India’s
growth in the field of Science.
At the outset, Dr. Harsh Vardhan
congratulated a responder who volunteered himself and their daughter for the
Bharat Biotech Vaccine.
Speaking on the concrete
measures that have been planned to handle such public health emergencies in the
future, he said ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ will strengthen the nation to an
extent where we will be able to overcome any eventuality including another
pandemic. On 12 May, 2020Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi ji had announced in
his address to the nation an economic package of Rs 20 trillion to tide over
the coronavirus crisis and make India ‘Atmanirbhar’. Dr Harsh Vardhan
emphasized that ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ underlines the commitment of the Government
for increased investments in Public Health and other health reforms to prepare
India for future pandemics.
He added that a Major proposal
under consideration at the Expenditure Finance Committee level includes the
following components:
· Strengthening surveillance of infectious diseases and
outbreak response including that for points of entry.
· Establishment of dedicated infectious disease
management hospital blocks in district hospitals.
· Establishment of Integrated Public Health
Laboratories, etc.
Responding to a question
regarding his achievement of engineering polio eradication in India, he
reminded the audience that COVID Coronavirus is a novel pathogen and literature
is absent on it unlike Polio. He added that India’s handling of outbreaks in the
past such as SARS, Ebola and Plague will play a major role in containing
COVID.The Union Minister assured another follower that no significant or
drastic mutations havebeen found in strains ofSARS-CoV-2 in India (available in
GISAID, global database), till now. He informed thatICMR has been conducting
large-scale sequencingof nationally representative strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus
collectedover the past severalmonths over differenttime-points and detailed
results on mutations andevolutionof the viruswill be available in early October.
On the recent saliva-based test
for COVID-19, Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted that ICMR has validated a few tests but
no reliable test has been found and companies with tests approved by US-FDA
have still not approached the Government of India. He added that ICMR is
actively exploring this test method and will inform as soon as reliable options
are available.
Being a doctor himself, the
Minister answered questions on the clinical management of COVID in great
detail. He dispelled myths surrounding the use of Hydroxychloroquine and Plasma
Therapy in treating COVID 19. He also explained to his audience how Coronavirus
becomes fatal for the elderly and the co-morbid. “Scientific evidence points
towards a high viral load and development of cytokine storms among the elderly
perhaps due to certain genetic polymorphism in Toll-like receptors on cells
prominent among them. During the course of COVID-19, older patients can reduce
their viral titers, only to rapidly descend
into a state
of shock involving hyperactivation
of the immune system and hypercoagulation in small
blood vessels.” However, he forewarned that this does not mean that a younger
person cannot die due to COVID-19 though the risk of death is far lower in this
case for younger people.
On the matter of availability of
Medical Oxygen in the country, Dr. Harsh Vardhan assured that there is enough
Oxygen being produced in the country and that the Health Ministry is closely
monitoring the situation. He took the occasion to remind everyone that the
Health Ministry had dispatched Oxygen concentrators to the rural parts of the
country specifically to avert the logistic issues coming to light.
He dispelled fears caused by the
Oxford Astra Zeneca Vaccine candidate and said that vaccine development is a
complex process and that trials have been restarted only after an independent
investigative expert committee gave them the permission to proceed ahead.He
explained the difference between various vaccines under clinical trial in India
and that since the vaccine formulations, doses, route of administration are
different for the vaccines, their mechanisms of action are also different.
However, the desirable outcome of each vaccine is much the same ie. ensuring
healthy individuals with immunity against novel coronavirus.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also spoke on
the role of traditional medicine in the present context. He said that the AYUSH
Ministry along with the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)
and Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) have developed
research protocols for validating the claims
of various Ayush practitioners for COVID 19 solutions although no
formulations has been validated as a specific drug to treat COVID- 19 till now.
He added that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization has permitted
Ayush practitioners to conduct research on covid-19 and generate evidence
towards development of Ayurvedic drugs for COVID-19.He assured that he would do
his best to highlight the best practices of India including Ayurveda in his
capacity as the Chairman of Executive Board of WHO.He said that the work that has been done in Dharavi for
COVID-19 control & mitigation is already there on the WHO website for the
world to see.
Dr Harsh Vardhan shared that a
total of 155 families of COVID Warriors have claimed relief under the Pradhan
Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana. These include 64 doctors, 32 auxiliary nurse
midwives and multipurpose healthcare workers, 14 ASHA workers and 45 other
front line workers who lost their lives.
Dr Harsh Vardhan acknowledged
that the current COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on everyone’s
mental health, especially so, for elderly persons who are aware of being at a
higher risk. During the Sunday Samvaad, he shared several tips for the senior
citizens for their mental wellbeing.
He also noted that it would take
substantive time for herd immunity to develop so as to be able to cover about
70% of the population. Hence the focus of Government of India is
primarily towards putting together a strategy that combines containment and hospital
management.
Other than questions on COVID,
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also answered queries regarding India’s plan to divert human
resource to science and the role of Government Policy to achieve a clean
environment witnessed during the Lockdown. Reminding the audience that India is
the world’s number one country in producing engineering and science graduates
every year, he said that as per the latest estimate, India has as many as 3.42
Lakh Full-Time Equivalent researchers, out of which nearly 50% are young and
below 45 years, 16% are women (nearly 56,000); there has been a 40% increase in
the number of researchers during the last 6 years or so; the number of women
scientists also got doubled in the previous 6 years.He added that India
isformulating a new path-breaking and forward-lookingNational Science,
Technology and Innovation Policy which aims at not just promoting science and
technology but bringing science at the centre stage and contributing to the
country's rapid economic and social development growth.
He assured the audience that the
Government will be successful in achieving a clean environment like the one
witnessed during Lockdown. The Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate
Change has been pursuingnumerousinitiativestoreduce
air pollution in major cities due to whichair qualitylevel has shown some
improvement during the recent 2 to 3 years.
To watch the second episode of ‘Sunday
Samvaad’, please
click at the following links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drharshvardhan/status/1307583211510231041?s=20
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2762717827332810&extid=w4EiYCzwejHsjcCw
Youtube: https://youtu.be/0xwKC77wgxQ
DHV
App:http://app.drharshvardhan.com/download
****
MV
HFW/ HFM 2ndSunday Samvad/20September2020/3
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