Maharashtra gets a National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) branch for disease surveillance activities

Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, laid the foundation stone for the six branches of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in India. The event was held virtually and Dr. Mandaviya laid foundation stones of branches located in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh

Talking about the need for such centres, Dr. Mandaviya said, “Disease surveillance plays a crucial part in disease prevention, control and management. Towards this end the regional branches of NCDC will pay a pivotal part. They will provide a boost to public health infrastructure with prompt surveillance, rapid detection and monitoring of diseases thereby enabling early interventions."

Adding more, he stated, “The Government under leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji is committed to strengthening the health infrastructure across the country. There has been a shift from “token” to “total” approach where States are our partners in the spirit of collaborative and cooperative federalism to ensure quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to all."

He also emphasised about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mission to strengthen health infrastructure across the country, and keeping the same in mind, added that the government under the PM-ABHIM (Prime Minister- Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission) has approved INR 64,000 crore for various health infrastructure in the states.  

Currently, NCDC has eight branches in states with focus on one or few diseases, these will be repurposed and new branches are being added with the mandate for integrated disease surveillance activities, dealing with Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), multi-sectoral and entomological investigations etc.

NCDC branches in the states and UTs will support the State Governments in timely disease surveillance and monitoring; and will further enable early warning leading to timely intervention based on evidence gathered from the field, he pointed out. The state branches will coordinate with NCDC HQR at New Delhi with real time sharing of data and information aided by cutting edge technology. 

Moreover, these branches would also be crucial in ensuring timely availability of updated guidelines so that accurate scientifically backed information can be disseminated easily.

The NCDC Laboratory Block, Residential Complex and NRL of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme were also inaugurated at the event virtually. Reports state that the NCDC Laboratory Block will include state-of-the-art testing and referral laboratories concerned with bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases of public health concern. 

This laboratory is equipped with 50 high-capacity labs which include 30 Bio-safety level3 labs, five RT-PCR labs and 15 other labs. The laboratories will be designed to not only offer testing facilities, but also provide hands-on training, capacity building and quality assurance services to whole network of laboratories across the country.

Dr. Tanaji Rao Sawant, Health Minister (Maharashtra), and other dignitaries from several departments of the state and the union government were present at the event virtually.