Government News

Innovators at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal have developed a unique ‘Crowd and Mask’ Monitoring System to prevent COVID-19 from spread. This one-of-its-kind low cost Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled device is portable and easy to deploy across various locations, says a statement released by the institution.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday announced inclusion of “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease” into the National Programme for Prevention & Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), a move that will help manage the country’s burden of non-communicable diseases.

Special provisions have been made in the budget of 2021 to encourage science, technology, innovation and research in the country. This year, the budget of the Department of Science-Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences has been increased by 30 percent. A total of Rs 16,695 crore has been provided to these two departments in the budget. Giving this information, Science and Technology, Earth Science and Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said that this increase in the budget will encourage research and development.

In this difficult time when the whole world has suffered from an unknown, invisible and unknowable virus COVID-19, India is ready to provide its cut to the world community. India, which has become the Corona vaccine, is running the world's largest vaccination campaign today. Not only this, along with the vaccination of Corona to Indians, India is also providing vaccines to many other countries.

According to the third national serological-survey report of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), over 21 percent of the population, aged 18 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19. The data on seroprevalenceamong those aged 10-17 was found to be 25.3 percent.

India Inc. and especially the Healthcare industry which has been battling the demon of COVID-19 and its aftermath should consider this year’s budget a blessing. Quite rightly, the budget has focused on health and well-being, infrastructural reforms, development of human capital and minimum government and maximum governance. The very fact that the Government has put health as the first pillar shows that finally it is being considered as the prerequisite to ensure the economic well-being of the country.

The private health sector is playing an important role in supplementing the activities of Government agencies in the on-going pan-India vaccination campaign to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control.

The operation guidelines prepared by the Central Government for the COVID-19 vaccination programme currently underway, provides a detailed roadmap to ensure a robust surveillance system to monitor adverse events post immunization and better understand the safety profile of the vaccines.

As many as 19 Ministries and Departments of the Government of India are involved in the implementation of the national vaccination campaign that is currently underway to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.