News Analysis India

Tag: Bharati Pravin Pawar

  • Screening infants for various ailments, disabilities should be must: Union Minister Bharati Pawar

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Screening infants for various ailments and disabilities should be made mandatory, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said on Friday while expressing concern that around nine crore people in India are suffering from various hearing disorders.

    Presiding over an event on International Week of Deaf People, 2021, she said that while celebrating the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, to mark 75 years of India’s Independence, it should be assessed if children in every village could be screened for various ailments.

    “Early diagnosis and prevention of disability have huge benefits,” the minister said.

    Reminding people of the adage — prevention is better than cure — Pawar said screening of infants for various ailments and disabilities should be made mandatory.

    “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have proved to the world that India can produce its own medicine and can administer one to two crore vaccine doses daily basis,” she said.

    The junior minister in the health ministry suggested preparing a pocketbook with QR codes containing various helplines and information about early screening and diagnosis of ailments in children, according to an official statement.

    The International Week of the Deaf People is celebrated annually by the global Deaf Community during the last full week of September.

    In India, the Directorate General of Health Services under the Union Health Ministry is commemorating the International Week of the Deaf People 2021 to create awareness through various activities involving various stakeholders.

  • India’s strong, decisive decisions slowed down entry, spread of COVID-19: MoS Health

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s strong and decisive actions like surveillance at points of entry slowed down the spread of COVID-19 and gave enough time to the country to build public health capacities and infrastructure to effectively manage the pandemic, Union Minister Bharati Pravin Pawar said on Tuesday.

    The minister of state for health and family welfare represented India at the World Health Organization-South East Asia Regional Office (WHO-SEARO) through video-conference.

    She offered intervention on behalf of India at the ministerial roundtable for the seventy-fourth session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia.

    Pawar also highlighted the key measures and strategies planned to ‘build back better’ to achieve Universal Health Care and health-related Sustainable Development Goals and to strengthen health system resilience for the future.

    Noting that COVID-19 has affected virtually every sphere of life and caused a huge number of deaths, she said the country adopted a proactive, pre-emptive, whole of government, whole of society and people-centric approach to manage the pandemic.

    “Our preparedness and response strategies utilised our past experiences of managing public health emergencies and contemporary scientific knowledge about evolving nature of disease to decide requisite public health interventions,” the minister said.

    “India’s strategy for fighting the pandemic is built on five pillars Test, Track, Treat, Vaccinate and adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour. With a decentralised but unified, whole of government approach, we focused on rapidly creating Covid-dedicated infrastructure and upskilling our healthcare workforce,” she said.

    Pawar noted that the proactive and bold decisions by India’s “strong and decisive leadership” like surveillance at points of entry slowed down the entry and spread of COVID-19 and gave enough time to the country to build public health capacities and infrastructure to effectively manage the pandemic.

    Inter-sectoral coordination facilitated by establishing high level inter-ministerial groups and communication with states, other stakeholders and community at large facilitated a ‘jan andolan’ (people’s movement) for managing the pandemic, the minister said.

    “Legal and policy provisions like the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, 2020, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005, already available to the Union and sub-national jurisdictions, provided the enabling framework to operationalise all aspect of pandemic management by clarifying roles, responsibilities while facilitating inter-sectoral coordination as governance from national to local levels,” she said.

    Further, technical support by the Union government on containment, treatment protocol and all aspects of Covid management ensured a unified response, Pawar added.

    Speaking on the human cost of the pandemic, she said realising the indirect impact of COVID-19 especially on the poor and marginalised sections of society, a number of social security measures, including supply of food grains, minimum income support schemes, support for small industries, support for children who have lost their parents due to COVID-19 and other economic measures were taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

    On the massive implication of India’s development and deployment of vaccines along with amplification of production capacities on global health, Pawar shared the fundamental principles of India’s vaccination strategy such as augmenting production of vaccines, prioritising vulnerable groups for vaccination, making efforts in procurement of vaccines from other countries, monitoring vaccinated people for their second dose, as well as providing requisite digital vaccination certificate.

    “Our National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 provides guidance on vaccine trials, equitable distribution of vaccine, procurements, financing, delivery mechanisms, prioritisation of population groups etc. and the National Task Force on Vaccine Development supports Research and Development of Drug, Diagnostics and Vaccines for Coronavirus,” the minister said.

    India utilised the existing infrastructure of the Universal Immunization Programme which was augmented to ensure cold chain maintenance besides managing required logistics of vaccines and syringes, she said.

    Pawar added that the capacity building at all level was taken by training more than 7,600 participants at the state level and around 61,500 at the district level apart from training more than 2 lakh vaccinators and 3.9 lakh other vaccination team members.

    “To enhance vaccine production, financial support as grant was provided to vaccine manufacturers, advance payment for orders placed, permission for at-risk manufacturing was allowed besides focusing on technology transfer to aid production,” the minister said .

    The Co-WIN digital platform supported transparent registration and tracking of every beneficiary for COVID-19 vaccination along with real-time information on the available stocks of vaccine, their storage temperature, digital certificates, she said.

  • Easing of lockdown, non-adherence to COVID norms behind surge in infections: Centre

    MoS Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said that although health is a state subject, the Union government has provided the required technical support and also provided logistic and financial support.

  • No shortage of vaccines, only marginal difference in purchase prices: MoS Health

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre is purchasing Covishield and Covaxin doses at the rate of Rs 205 and Rs 215 per dose, respectively, and there is only a marginal difference in the purchase price of the two vaccines for the government, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

    In a written reply, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar also said that the government is not facing any difficulty in procuring and arranging vaccines for states and Union territories (UTs).

    In fact, the Government of India has been supplying vaccines free of cost to the states/UTs for administration to prioritised beneficiaries as recommended by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC).

    “Advance visibility of these allocations, that is, the total doses of vaccine that would be available to a state and UT, is provided to them 15 days in advance, so as to enable them to plan for acceleration of vaccination coverage while being cognizant of the available vaccines,” the minister said.

    The Government of India allocates vaccines to states/UTs based on criteria such as pro rata target population, progress of vaccination in the state and UT and vaccine wastage.

    “According to the latest supply order, the Government of India is purchasing Covishield (exclusive of taxes) at the rate of Rs 205 per dose and Covaxin at the rate of Rs 215 per dose.

    There is only a marginal difference in the purchase price of the two vaccines for the Government of India,” Pawar said in the written reply.

    As on July 20, 2021, a total of 42.52 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin have been supplied for COVID-19 vaccination drive in India.

    Till July, around Rs 8,071.09 crore has been spent on purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.

    The price of vaccine for procurement by the Government of India is negotiated by NEGVAC and its subgroups involving detailed deliberations with the vaccine manufacturers, the minister told the House in response to a separate question.

    She further elaborated on the initiatives taken by the Union government to help Indian vaccine manufacturers who are in the process of developing COVID-19 vaccine which are in advance stage of trial.

    The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science and Technology is implementing ‘COVID Suraksha- the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’.

    Under the mission, facility augmentation for production of Covaxin is being supported whereby Bharat Biotech and three public sector enterprises, including Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai; Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), Hyderabad; and Bharat Immunologicals Biologicals Limited (BIBCOL), Bulandshahr, are being supported.

    Additionally, technology transfer of Covaxin production to a consortium of partners, including Hester Biosciences and OmniBRx Biotechnologies Pvt Ltd led by Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, is being facilitated by the Department of Biotechnology, the minister said.

    The Government of India has also provided financial assistance to domestic vaccine manufacturer ‘Biological E’ which is at present in advance phase III clinical trial for ‘At-risk manufacturing’ of COVID-19 vaccine, she added.

    As on date, no foreign COVID-19 vaccines have been purchased or received as donation by the government of India, Bharati said.

    On whether India in the first instance exported vaccine without assessing the impact of the second wave and need of vaccine in the country, Pawar, in a written reply, said the government of India has secured COVID-19 vaccines for the eligible beneficiaries as per the availability of vaccines in the country.

    In response to another question on whether the government has signed any agreement with foreign countries for supplying Covid vaccine to India, the minister said while the government of India is engaged in a dialogue with foreign manufacturers of Covid vaccine, no specific agreement has been signed as yet.

    The export quantity comprised vaccines committed under international agreements by the domestic manufacturer to COVAX and its individual commitments to other countries or organisations and vaccines supplied through the “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, Pawar said in the written reply.

    Elaborating on the reasons for not identifying journalists as frontline workers and giving them priority for vaccination, she said COVID-19 vaccination is guided by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) on the basis of concurrent scientific evidence.

    The prioritisation for vaccination has been done with an aim to protect the pandemic response and health system and to have maximum impact on reduction of disease and deaths due to COVID-19, she said.

    This was later followed by age-based prioritisation, which is considered equitable and which has also been the practice globally, Pawar stated.

    On the total doses of foreign vaccines so far received on purchase or as donation so far and the timeline fixed by the government to vaccinate all the eligible people in the country, she said, “As on date, no foreign COVID-19 vaccine has been purchased or received as donation by the government of India”.

    In view of the dynamic and evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, no fixed timelines at present can be indicated for the completion of the vaccination drive, however, it is expected that all beneficiaries aged 18 years and above will be vaccinated by December 2021, she stated.

    The National COVID-19 Vaccination Drive is progressing at a steady pace and Covid vaccination has improved significantly from 2.35 lakh doses per day in the month of January 2021 to an average of 39.89 lakh doses per day in the month of June 2021, Pawar said.

    However, in order to raise awareness about COVID-19 vaccines, address vaccine hesitancy and sustain vaccine confidence, a communication strategy is in , lace which is being implemented across all states and UTs, she said in another reply.

    Under the National Covid Vaccination Program, from January 16 to April 30 2021, 100 per cent of vaccine doses were procured by the government of India and provided free of cost to state governments.

    From May 1 to June 20, “The Liberalized Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy” was brought in effect in order to incentivize production by vaccine manufacturers and encourage new COVID-19 vaccines.

    Under this strategy, states and UTs and private hospitals were allowed to procure COVID-19 vaccine directly from manufacturers.

    The government of India procured 50 per cent of monthly vaccine production by the domestic manufacturers, the state government and private hospitals procured remaining 50 per cent doses.

    The quantity of doses available for states and UTs and private hospitals was worked out on state-wise population of 18 to 44 years on pro-rata basis, Pawar said in her reply.

    The “Revised Guidelines for Implementation of National COVID Vaccination Program” were issued on June 8, to be effective from June 21 under which the government of India is procuring 75 per cent of COVID-19 vaccines produced in the country and providing it free of cost to states and UTs.

    The states and UTs, in turn, will administer the vaccines free of cost to all citizens as per priority.

    The domestic vaccine manufacturers have the option to provide 25 per cent of their monthly vaccine production directly to private hospitals.

    The guidelines were reviewed and revised keeping in view the experiences gained from May 1 this year and the repeated requests received from states, the reply stated.

    Advance visibility of vaccine allocation — total doses that would be available for states and UTs — are provided 15 days in advance to enable them to plan for acceleration of vaccination coverage while being cognizant of the available vaccines, she said in a written reply.

    Asked whether the government is aware that many inoculation sites got closed down due to non-availability of vaccines there, Pawar said, “There has been no shortage of vaccines and the Government of India has been providing free supply of vaccines to states and UTs for administration to prioritised beneficiaries as recommended by NEGVAC (National Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration against COVID-19).”

    On whether the government is aware that less than 10 per cent of Indians have got single dose of Covid vaccine despite India being the world’s leading vaccine manufacturer, the minister said as of July 20, around 34.5 per cent of the estimated population aged 18 years and above has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

    As of July 20, 2021, a total of 32.64 crore first doses and 8.55 crore second doses have been administered across the country.

    A total of 2.15 lakh COVID-19 Vaccination Centres have been operational across the country, Pawar said.

    The Government of India has taken many steps to augment the domestic manufacturing capacity of COVID-19 vaccines.

    These include support to M/s Bharat Biotech and three Public Sector Enterprises under ‘Mission COVID Suraksha-the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’, technology transfer of Covaxin production, financial assistance to one of the domestic vaccine manufacturers for ‘at-risk manufacturing’, advance payment against the supply orders placed with M/s Serum Institute of India and M/s Bharat Biotech, and streamlining of regulatory norms for approval of vaccines, the minister said.