NEW DELHI:  National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) branches were inaugurated on Tuesday in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

while launching virtually the NCDC foundation stone, Mandaviya  said: -"The prevention, control, and management of diseases all depend heavily on disease surveillance. The regional NCDC branches will play a key role in achieving this. With swift surveillance, rapid disease detection, and monitoring, they would strengthen the public health infrastructure and allow for early interventions."

Mandaviya continued by saying that the administration was devoted to improving the national health system. "To provide quality, cheap, and accessible healthcare for all, there has been a transition from a 'token' to a 'total' strategy where the states are our partners in the spirit of collaborative and cooperative federalism," he stated.

He emphasised that the Prime Minister's goal was to improve the nation's health infrastructure and noted that the government, under the PM-ABHIM (Prime Minister- Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission), had authorised Rs 64,000 crore for different state-level health infrastructure projects.

He said, "The current Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the significance of new and re-emerging infectious illnesses that have the potential to not only create localised outbreaks but potentially a pandemic. State governments will receive timely help from NCDC branches in the states and UTs for disease surveillance and monitoring. According to the health minister, this would provide early warning that will result in prompt response based on data gathered from the field.

These state branches will collaborate with NCDC HQR in New Delhi using cutting-edge technology to share data and information in real-time. The NCDC branches would be essential in ensuring the prompt availability of updated recommendations so that accurate information with scientific support may be easily distributed.

With a current focus on one or two diseases, NCDC currently has eight branches in the states. These will be repurposed, and new branches will be added with the mandate for integrated disease surveillance activities, dealing with Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), multi-sectoral and entomological investigations, etc.

The National Vector Borne Disease Control Program's Laboratory Block 1, Residential Complex, and NRL were all officially opened by the Union Health Minister. Modern testing and referral labs focused on bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic diseases of public health importance will be housed in the NCDC Laboratory Block. 50 high-capacity labs, including 30 Biosafety level 3 labs, 5 RT-PCR labs, and 15 additional labs, are available in this facility.

 In addition to providing testing facilities, the laboratories will be built to give practical training, capacity building, and quality assurance services to the entire network of laboratories throughout the nation.

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