Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan held a high level review meeting with the Indian North Eastern States.  He reviewed the status of COVID-19 in the north-eastern States along with the measures being taken for its containment and management. Dr. Harsh Vardhan appreciated the dedication of all the States in combating COVID-19 in the country.

During the detailed interaction with the NE States, they highlighted various issues related to testing facilities, health infrastructure, surveillance, contact tracing etc., and also shared their best practices. The Union Health Minister informed about the various measures taken by the Government to combat COVID-19.

Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that as on 9th May 2020, a total of 59,662 cases have been reported from the country in which 17,847 persons have been cured and 1,981 deaths had occurred. In the last 24 hours, 3,320 new confirmed cases have been added and 1307 patients were found cured. He added that the fatality rate is 3.3% and recovery rate is 29.9%. He also added that there are 2.41% present active COVID-19 patients in ICU, 0.38% on ventilators and 1.88% on oxygen support. Dr. Harsh Vardhan also said, “The testing capacity has increased in the country and it is 95,000 tests per day with 332 Government laboratories and 121 private laboratories. Cumulatively, 15,25,631 tests have been done so far for COVID-19.”

To maintain the positive status of COVID-19 management in the North East, Dr. Harsh Vardhan advised many measures to the States.

• He advised them  to ensure that the returning migrant laborers, students and those returning from abroad should be screened and quarantined as per the guidelines and protocol laid down by the by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of External Affairs. He also stated that the guidelines for discharging patients is also revised and needs to be followed by all the States.
• He urged States to aggressively pursue the download of Aarogya Setu app to aid contact tracing and surveillance and for self assessment by people. He advised the States to put the information of the earmarked facilities for COVID-19 like the dedicated COVID hospitals, COVID Health Centers and Care Centers in public domain to help people access the services. The States were informed that funds have been allocated by Minister of DONER for strengthening of the health infrastructure, and states need to submit their proposals for availing of funds under this fund.
• For the States that have international borders, Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that these States need to take adequate measures at the border areas to prevent exposure by conducting screening of all individual entering the State at entry points and following quarantine protocol as per the guidelines.
• He also reminded the states that in addition to the COVID-19 care, non-COVID-19 health services are equally important and should not be neglected. States were also advised to ensure that payments, salaries and incentives were paid to the healthcare staff, paramedics and other healthcare workers, for which States were also advised to ensure that the NHM funds were transferred to the Health Department. States were also informed that helpline number 104 in addition to 1075 can be used for grievance redressal for non-COVID essential services, and for providing the needed information to the people on their location etc. States were also advised to keep adequate stock of essential medicines and explore home delivery by engaging volunteers for the purpose.
• Dr Harsh Vardhan advised the States to ensure that concrete actions were taken for prohibiting wide usage of tobacco products and for prohibiting spitting in public places which shall help in preventing spread of COVID-19. Strong reforms are needed in this direction, he stated. He appreciated the effort of States that have banned the use of chewing tobacco and imposition of fine for spitting in public places.

The review meeting (over video conferencing) was attended by Dr. R Lalthangliana, Health Minister of Mizoram, Sh. Alo Libang, Health Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, and Shri Piyush Hazarika, MoS, Health and Family Welfare, Assam along with senior officers from the eight States.

Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW), Rajesh Bhushan, OSD (HFW), Vandana Gurnani, AS & MD (NHM), Dr. Manohar Agnani, Joint Secretary (MoHFW), Dr. S.K. Singh, Director, NCDC along with Principal Secretary (Health) and other senior state health officials also participated in the meeting.

Source : PIB