India more prepared than ever to face any future pandemic: Experts

India is wellprepared to face any future pandemic said experts on the fourth anniversary of the Covid19 pandemic on Monday Covid was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization WHO on March 11 2020 The pandemic claimed over 7 million lives globally and more than half a million lives were lost in India While the WHO has officially declared the pandemic to be over in May 2023 the SARSCoV2 virus causing the Covid infection continues to mutate and infect large numbers of people worldwideHowever the risk posed has decreased significantly With scientists globally indicating the potential risk of future pandemic outbreaks governments have seen the need for pandemic preparedness which can enable all countries to equally access tests and vaccines among othersThis has also been put forward by the WHO and global health experts especially as the pandemic saw the rich countries hoard vaccines while many poor countries in the Global South were left to fend for themselves While the former had a surplus of tests and vaccines which also had to be trashed due to expiry dates the latter suffered immense loss of lives including of healthcare workersThe situation was similar for India but it quickly ramped up efforts to help its citizens as well as poor countries in need Today the country stands much more prepared than it was when Covid stuck first said the expertsIndia appears to be wellplaced at this time from the perspective of the pandemic The country acted assertively in the initial part of the pandemic and followed it up with a systematic and riskstratified rollout of vaccines which greatly reduced the number of deaths from the pandemic Dr Rajeev Jayadevan cochairman of the National Indian Medical Association Covid Task Force told IANSThe health system has been ramped up to face similar outbreaks in the future including speedy communication systems chain of command custom facilities and effective implementation of nonpharma interventions based on a continuing risk assessment he added Infectious disease expert Dr Ishwar Gilada told IANS that the country had the Disaster Management Act 2005 and Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 in place but not pandemic preparedness He said the G20 presidency helped India towards thinking in that directionThe countrys NITI Aayog and Health Ministry is reportedly working to develop a pandemic preparedness programme broadly covering areas such as surveillance risk assessment and mobilisation of resources to help the country effectively combat any future pandemic Although India initially faced major fallouts in providing healthcare for other conditions paediatric vaccination economy and societal disruption and education to name a few the country soon pulled through Dr Gilada saidCovid vaccine RampD was fastest ever vaccines came in record time though with the emergency use authorisation EUA tag and that helped India to stand out globally as a very powerful country India also excelled in the vaccination drive to surpass 2 billion doses Indias VaccineMaitri initiative helped lower and middleincome countries LMIC at their toughest time when rich countries were selfcentredToday India is much better prepared than ever before to face any future pandemic and other health exigencies in terms of PPE kits testing capabilities hospitalisation oxygen production medicines vaccines and also human resource said the doctor who is Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Unison Medicare and Research Centre MumbaiFurther Dr Jayadevan also stressed the importance of understanding Long Covid a miscellaneous set of health conditions that linger three months or longer following infection occurring after 5 to 10 per cent of initial symptomatic infectionsWe need to be vigilant about which way the virus turns whether all new versions will arrive in the future particularly as a result of reverse spill over from animals This can also occur from people with immunosuppression who harbour the virus for over long periods enabling it to accumulate an extraordinarily large number of mutations he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever