NITI Aayog lays out a blueprint for pandemic preparedness to tackle any Covid-like outbreak in future

Dr Renu Swarup-led expert panel set up for the purpose has proposed enacting a new Public Health Emergency Management Act (PHEMA), setting up of a special pandemic preparedness and emergency response fund and creating an institutionalized empowered governance mechanism to tackle public health emergencies in future..

The idea is to put in place an emergency response which begins action on day zero and gives the required results to have disease prevention, mitigation and control in place within 100 days of the outbreak.AgenciesThe.

Aayog also proposed a detailed implementation manual or standard operating procedures (SOP) for rapid response to biological threats and creating a well-connected and integrated robust surveillance network linking epidemiological, genomic and clinical data, including humans, animals and the environment...

Based on our learnings from earlier epidemics and the key actions taken and strategy followed to manage the COVID pandemic, it is evident that a special focus must be placed on sustaining the efforts made and addressing the challenges faced with a well thought-out action plan that can respond to a public health emergency in the shortest period of time, the Aayog said in the report...

The Aayog also proposed creating centers of excellence for skilling human resources in identified gap areas and putting in place pre approved instruments, guidelines and agreements for private sector participation in surveillance, research, and manufacturing along with the need to build strong mechanisms for centre-state collaboration during emergencies with well-defined responsibilities, accountability and reporting structures...

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