Dr Harsh Vardhan holds meet with state health minister on COVID-19

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and MoS, Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Choubey on Friday held a meeting via video conferencing with State health ministers to review actions on COVID-19 management.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and MoS, Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Choubey on Friday held a meeting via video conferencing with State health ministers to review actions on COVID-19 management. In the video conference, Dr Vardhan urged them to ensure that no unnecessary stigma is attached to COVID-19 and said that we need to identify people infected with COVID-19 and treat them.

Sharing details about Dr Vardhan's video conference held today, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said: "The Union Health Minister has requested the States to focus on districts reporting the high number of cases or having a fast case doubling rate or districts with high rate of mortality." Agarwal said that Dr Vardhan has suggested the Red Cross Society coordinate with the recovered COVID-19 patients, who can be mobilised for blood donation, from which convalescent plasma could be used for transfusion to COVID-19 patients for early recovery.

"The Union Health Minister also interacted with Health Ministers of all member countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and shared India's journey so far. He highlighted that India's management efforts are based on twin principles of community engagement and containment effort," said Agarwal. (ANI)