Health Ministry along with NTAGI, NEGVAC, should assess need for Covid-19 booster doses, recommends house panel

New Delhi [India], December 10 : In view of the threat posed by the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has recommended that the Health Ministry in coordination with the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) should assess the need for booster doses in India.
This recommendation was made in the 236th report on "Action Taken by Government on the Recommendations/ Observations contained in the 229th reeport on the "Management of COVID-19 Pandemic and Related Issues" laid down by the Committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma in parliament on Friday.
"The Committee would like to know whether any research has been conducted by ICMR and other concerned institutions regarding the efficacy of the vaccines that are being given or administered in the country against various variants," said the committee in the report.
In the report, the committee has also cautioned the centre against the unpredictable nature and virulence of the COVID-19 pandemic and has recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) advise the states not to scale down completely the infrastructure built up to tackle the pandemic like testing facility, ICU beds and medical oxygen etc. "They should be kept in a dormant state so that they can be reactivated to deal with the subsequent wave of the Pandemic that might come up," the committee said.
"The Committee recommends that the MHA may take up with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare assessment of the requirement and preparedness for possible third wave particularly in terms of availability of liquid medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, life-saving medicines, beds, ventilators, etc," said the committee in the report.
The committee also recommends the Centre to strengthen tele-consultations for capacity building and training of health professionals and Tele-Medicine for treatment of patients especially in periurban, rural and remote areas as also patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Committee notes various interventions to be made under PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana with an outlay of about Rs. 64,180 crores over 6 years and 'India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II' for the period July, 21 to March, 2022 with an approved amount of Rs 23,123 crores. The Committee recommends to assess the requirement of health professionals including nursing staff and allied workforce and take steps on priority to recruit them for catering to the establishment of Health and Wellness Centres, integrated public health labs, critical care hospital blocks, etc. The Committee further
recommends that the MHA may take up with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) to coordinate regularly with States/UTs for timely completion of the components of the above-mentioned Yojana/Package to ramp up health infrastructure," the committee said.
The Committee has also recommended that the MHA may take up with the Health Ministry to issue guidelines on fixation of price ceilings for hospital beds during pandemics like COVID-19 and other public health emergencies and due publicity be given to such prices.
"A monitoring mechanism may be created to put a check on black marketing of essential life-saving drugs and selling of hospital beds above ceiling price," added the committee.
The committee has taken note of the fact that an environment of fear among the masses could be created due to varying views of various medical experts and epidemiologists regarding a possible third wave. "Therefore, the Committee recommends that the MHA/ Ministry of Health & Family Welfare should release authorized/ official bulletins on COVID-19 matters through the various news/media in order to avoid panic among people," recommends the committee.
In order to tackle the digital divide that has surfaced due to mostly-online nature of education during the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee has recommended ensuring the availability of high-speed internet connectivity, TV sets/large screens, computers, with other digital equipment along with regular and uninterrupted power supply especially during working hours in all schools across the country.
"The Committee recommends aggressive and continuous publicity for the educational programmes being aired on Doordarshan and on satellite TV to create awareness amongst general public. The Committee also recommends to revise the current one-time installation cost of Rs.1500 to 2000 for DD Free Dish reception system to watch subject-based SWAYAM PRABHA DTH Channels in order to make it affordable for the economically weaker and marginalised students. Doordarshan Free Dish and adequate number of TV screens may also be placed in the schools, community halls, etc, in all villages, small towns etc, by including this in their curriculum during normal/regular studies as well," said the committee.
The committee has also recommended that the Ministry of Labour and Employment work with other states and union territories to register unorganised/migrant workers on the e-Shram Portal so that a comprehensive National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW) is created at the earliest to extend the benefits of various government schemes to these workers.
Meanwhile, 32 Omicron cases have been reported in the country.