Branch of National Centre for Disease Control to come up in Odisha soon

Bhubaneswar: As another mile stone towards qualitative universal health services, Odisha government has expedited the process for establishment of a comprehensive branch of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the State, an official source said today.

Handing over of the registered land-deed and possession was done in the evening in Conference hall of Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department under the chairmanship of Secretary Shalini Pandit.

Speaking on the occasion, Pandit said, “Odisha has rolled out transformative approach in quality health care services under the guidance of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Establishment of NCDC will add to this process”.

She added saying that the State government worked in complete convergence and collaboration with the Central units like RMRC, Institute of Life Sciences and AIIMS during the global pandemic of Covid-19. This collaboration proved very successful in containment of the pandemic.

NCDC would further strengthen Odisha’s strength in disease surveillance and public health service.

Joining the discussion, Government of India Health Services Director General Professor (Dr) Atul Goel complemented the State government for its benchmark level accomplishments in disaster management. “NCDC at Bhubaneswar would be like a Regional Center of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The institute would work in complete collaboration with State machinery for improving disease surveillance and control of diseases having public health implications,” Dr Goel said.

The Director General Goel emphasised that “Prevention of the diseases should be given equal focus along with clinical treatment”.

“During the Covid-19 outbreak, the State adopted a holistic approach in the successful prevention and containment measures. This approach had averted cases and deaths in a strategic manner which was globally appreciated. State also strengthened the existing 32 District Public Health Laboratories and developed its own network of 30 RT-PCR laboratories for testing, diagnosis and timely dissemination of results in the community. NCDC would be another significant addition,” Director Public Health Dr Niranjan Mishra said.

Joint Director NCDC Dr Shikha Vardhan, Regional Director Dr Suchitra Sasmal, Director Public Health Dr Niranjan Mishra and CDMO Khurda Dr Artabandhu Nayak along with senior officers of concerned departments were present on the occasion.

It is pertinent to mention, the State government earlier approved a proposal for establishment of NCDC with a State-of-the-Art Laboratory in Odisha. Accordingly, a land measuring AC03.125 decimal was allotted in favour of Director, NCDC, Government of India at Andharua Mouza of Khordha district, free of premium and waiver of registration fees. The land registration deed was signed by CDMO Khurda Dr Nayak and the Director General Prof Goel.