Updated: October 21, 2020 7:46:35 am
On Monday, Prime Minister Modi had said that the country was working to put a well-established vaccine delivery system in place and that this digitized network, along with digital health identification, would be used to ensure the immunization of citizens.
For the Covid-19 vaccination campaign planned for next year, various IDs would be prescribed in addition to the unique digital health ID under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), the government said Tuesday.
Dr Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), said experimental convalescent plasma therapy is likely to be dropped from the national protocol for clinical management of the disease, based on evidence that has emerged from the trial. world’s largest clinic, which was conducted in India.
When asked if NDHM digital ID would be mandatory to receive the vaccine, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at the weekly Covid-19 briefing that to ensure no one was deprived of vaccination, it was they would use multiple identifications during the inoculation campaign.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the country was working to put in place a well-established vaccine delivery system, and that this digitized network, along with the Digital Health ID, would be used to guarantee the immunization of citizens.
“The National Digital Health Mission, as it exists today, does not make digital identification mandatory to receive service under the digital ecosystem it is creating. Therefore, to say that it would be mandatory for vaccination and that those without medical identification would be deprived is probably not the correct interpretation, “said Bhushan.
“Medical identification would be used in those cases where the individual / recipient / beneficiary does not have (other) medical identification; there are many other IDs that can be used as in the case of this NDHM. It would be almost like the electoral scenario, where multiple identifications (for voters) are prescribed beforehand, so that no one is deprived of the benefits of vaccination, ”he said.
Bhushan said the government had received more than 7,000 comments on the data management policy on digital health identification, and that the Center could “adequately” refine the policy based on them. “… There is a pending bill in Parliament that addresses this issue… NDHM has a data management policy, which has been in the public domain for the last month, and we received… comments that guarantee both the privacy of individual data such as data security. Based on the feedback … we would be properly refining our policy. “
Dr Bhargava said that discussions were underway on the WHO Solidarity Trial which concluded that four experimental drugs, including the antimalarial drug HCQ and remdesivir, which are part of India’s treatment protocol, do not have any effect in hospitalized patients with Covid-19.
“India has done the largest trial on plasma therapy. This article was accepted by the British Medical Journal and we have received proof for it. It will appear very soon with more than 10 pages of hardcore science that will talk about plasma therapy and Covid-19. We have had a discussion with the national working group and we are discussing more with the joint monitoring group. This (plasma therapy) can be removed from national guidelines, ”Dr. Bhargava said.
“The WHO solidarity test, in which India has participated, has just presented its provisional results. These have not yet been peer reviewed. However, we found that these medications are not working as expected. Debate and discussion are ongoing in the working group, and we would take into account the results of these trials and issue the notice accordingly, ”he said.
Meanwhile, the Center said 246 stand-alone oxygen generation plants were being installed in hospitals in 18 states; 67 were in various stages of completion. In the second phase, 150 additional plants would be installed.
“We have also started the process of importing 1 lakh MT (metric tons of oxygen) to ensure adequate stock to address any anticipated increases in Covid-19 cases,” Bhushan said.
The government released data showing a marginal decrease in the number of patients on oxygen support compared to the peak in September, and said that oxygen production capacity has improved from 5,918 MT in April to 7,919 MT at the end of October. .
“These are ICU beds with oxygen support, ventilators, and oxygen support beds. On September 1, 43,022 patients were in these beds; this number increased steadily and on September 25, this number stood at 75,098. This number started to decrease and today it is 57,357 … The number is still high … but we need not worry because our installed capacity is very high (compared to the requirement).
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