Amidst a deluge of infections of H1N1, the Health Ministry today announced plans to revamp the National Institute of Communicable Diseases(NICD) which completed a century of existence today.
The upgradation of the NICD has been taken up as a new initiative under the Eleventh Five Year Plan with a total allocation of Rs 510 crore. It was renamed today the National Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) reminiscent of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
The upgradation would involve infrastructure and equipment besides augmentation of manpower at the institute,Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad announcing the new agenda for the NICD said.
In-principle approval of the Planning Commission has already been obtained and an agency has been hired to prepare the detailed project report, Azad said.
Azad said that it is a change not only in the name but also in its agenda with more accent on epidemic intelligence services. The NCDC will modernize research for disease control and develop Epidemic Intelligence Services for prompt response to disease outbreaks and develop disease outbreak forecasting models.
The Institute will help in developing a network of public health institutions and improving diagnostic capabilities for emerging and re-emerging infections, he said.
Azad said that the NCDC will provide enhanced quality services in their current activities while help in the development of a public health policy framework, conducting risk factor surveys for non-communicable diseases and developing human resource in public health.
He said that the NCDC would be addressing the country's triple burden of diseases in the form of common communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and the emerging infectious diseases.
"Over two dozen new disease causing agents have emerged in the preceding three decades,'' says Azad. The third threat was from Non-Communicable Diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart attack and cancer.
