Chennai: The union government was taking up the vaccination programme against Covid-19 pandemic in a big way, Union Minister for health and family welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan said.
Addressing the virtual convocation of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research here, he said the centre has initiated a series of actions to prevent the spread.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself interacted with the Chief Ministers of all states and Union Territories and all stakeholders to regularly understand issues and collaborate with them for effective covid management.
To ensure accessibility of quality treatment for both covid and non-covid health issues in far-flung areas, telemedicine has been promoted in a big way and ‘eSanjeevani’ a web based comprehensive telemedicine solution is being utilised in 23 states with over 11 lakh teleconsultations held on this platform till date.
Acknowledging that Covid-19 has turned the clock back by many years, Dr Harsh Vardhan said “the deadly virus has derailed our painstaking efforts of many decades and diverted scientific attention”.
The lockdowns have raised insurmountable barriers, interrupted supply chains, diverted manufacturing capacity and imposed many roadblocks.
This period needs strategized thinking, thought leadership and disruptive social entrepreneurship. It needs mass mobilisation, aggressive campaigns, powerful partners and deep commitments especially from doctors, he added.
Listing out the steps taken by the centre to boost healthcare he said the doctor-patient ratio needs to be improved from 1:1700 to 1;1000 as per WHO norms.
He also said the government has been steadily working towards one medical college for each district and to improve the availability of beds to patients from 9 to 40 per 10,000 and people covered under the health insurance from 8 to 10 per cent.