Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI,NOV 26: The Centre on Sunday asked state governments to immediately review public health and hospital preparedness measures amid a spike in pneumonia cases in China. It said it was monitoring the situation in the neighbouring country and stressed there was “no cause for any alarm at the moment”.

The Union Health Secretary has written a letter to the states and Union Territories (UTs), directing them to take measures to ramp up medical infrastructure such as hospital beds, drugs and vaccines for influenza, medical oxygen, antibiotics, personal protective equipment, testing kits and reagents, functionality of oxygen plants and ventilators, infection control practices in health facilities, at a senior level, a release from the Union Health Ministry read.

All states and UTs have been advised to implement ‘Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in the context of Covid- 19’, shared earlier this year, which provides for integrated surveillance of respiratory pathogens presenting as cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI).

The Health Ministry release said the states and UTs have also been asked to ensure that the trends of ILUSARI should be closely monitored by the district and state surveillance units of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), particularly of children and adolescents.

“The data of ILl/SARI is required to be uploaded on IDSP-IHIP portal, particularly from the public health institutions including medical college hospitals,” it said.

The state governments have been directed to send nasal and throat swab samples of patients with SARI, particularly of children and adolescents, to Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL’s) located in the states for testing for respiratory pathogens.

“The cumulative effect of implementation of these precautionary and proactive collaborative measures is expected to counter any potential situation and ensure the safety and well-being of the citizens,” the Health Ministry said.

On Friday, the Union Health Ministry said it was closely monitoring the spike in cases due to a mysterious pneumonia outbreak in China and added that India was prepared for any kind of emergency that may emerge from the current situation.

Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission (NHC) on November 13 reported that an increase in respiratory illness cases was due to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, and a common bacterial infection that typically affects younger children.

ProMed, an international disease surveillance platform, issued an alert over undiagnosed pneumonia affecting children on Tuesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has requested detailed information from China on the increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.

-PTI