Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government is aware of the large scale prevalence/outbreak of deadly diseases in the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether any renewed action plan is envisaged by the Government to check such outbreaks; and
(c) if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a): Outbreaks of AES have been occurring in Bihar since the year 1995 almost every year during the same period/season of the year.
Nipah Virus outbreak was reported from Kozhikode, Malappuram and Ernakulum district of Kerala during the year 2018 and 2019. Zika Virus Disease was reported from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during the years 2017 and 2018.
However, there has been no significant large scale prevalence/outbreak of deadly diseases in the country in the recent past.
(b) & (c): As per constitutional provisions, Health is a state subject and primary responsibility to control any outbreak lies with the respective State Government. However, Government of India provides technical and financial support and training to health functionaries of State Government for more effective containment and management of any disease outbreak. The Government of India also provides regular financial and technical support to the State Governments under National Health Mission (NHM) and various other Tertiary sector schemes for strengthening of healthcare infrastructure in the States/UTs.
Government of India is also implementing Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) under NHM in all States/UTs with the objective to detect and respond to disease outbreaks due to epidemic prone diseases / communicable diseases causing outbreaks. To prevent the spread of such outbreaks, States/UTs are provided with additional manpower, training of identified Rapid Response Team (RRT) members for outbreak investigations, strengthening of laboratories for detection of epidemic prone diseases, IT equipment for data entry, analysis and data transfer, and provision of funds under IDSP for operationalization of the programme.