Scripting a survival
Zee’s founding family plots a twist in the tale and stays in control
The Health Ministry will soon launch a "Har Ghar Dastak" campaign in the poor performing districts to enthuse and motivate people towards full Covid vaccination, the Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya said during the national review meeting with Health Ministers of various States. Highlighting the need to accelerate the pace and coverage of vaccination, he stated that more than 10.34 crore people in the country have not taken the second dose after the prescribed interval.
The Minister added that adequate vaccine doses were available in the country, and more than 12 crore unutilised doses are available with the States for administering. “No district should be without full vaccination. Let us aim to cover all eligible with 1st dose of Covid-19 vaccine by end-November 2021”, he said.
The State Health Ministers were requested to ensure continuous oversight on the progress of the national Covid-19 Vaccination Programme. Mandaviya urged the State to make regional and local level plans with all the stakeholders to reduce the number of people with vaccination overdue. He also urged for innovative strategies to encourage them to achieve their targets to review the planning and execution of district-wise plans for coverage of due beneficiaries of the second dose as available on the Co-WIN portal.
Mandaviya highlighted the vision of the Prime Minister guiding the recently launched PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-BHIM). “COVID has given us the opportunity to analysis the gaps in our existing health infrastructure. We have also learned that in a federal democracy, the Centre and States working in a synchronized collaborative mode can achieve significant milestones”.
Meanwhile, he also informed that with an outlay of ₹64,180 crore, PM-AB HIM, announced in the Budget 2021-22, is the largest pan-India Health Infrastructure Scheme and would provide a much-needed fillip to India's capacity to address emergent Public Health issues. This will give a major boost to India’s healthcare infrastructure and make it more resilient, he added.
He urged the States to make strategies for timely utilisation of the allocated funds under the new Mission. Mandaviya also requested State Health Ministers to ensure that plans and implementation schedules for the ECRP-II are reviewed for timely completion of the proposed initiatives and schemes.
In addition, Mandaviya assured the Health Ministers that the Centre will extend all support and assistance to the States/UTs in matters of health. "In a federal democracy, the Centre and States form a collaborative platform. We should work as a team for ensuring Swastha Bharat, Samruddh Bharat", he said.