Indian physicians better equipped to deal with infections, communicable diseases: Jitendra Singh

Addressing a webinar, Union Minister Jitendra Singh complimented the medical fraternity of the country for having lived up to the occasion and successfully fought the war against the coronavirus.

New Delhi: Indian physicians are better equipped to deal with infections and communicable diseases compared to most of their western counterparts, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday, referring to hygiene and cleanliness practices prevalent in the country before the advent of superior anti-microbial drugs.

Addressing a webinar, Singh complimented the medical fraternity of the country for having lived up to the occasion and successfully fought the war against the coronavirus.

Leading physicians and specialists from different streams of medical science offered their inputs from cities such as Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Kota and Erode during the webinar, according to an official statement.

The minister said, the medical fraternity as well as health infrastructure of India had, during this time of crises, proved to the world its inherent potential and capacity to reorient itself at short notice and successfully discharge its responsibilities to the community.

Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, referred to the non-pharmacological practices in medical management, including hygiene and cleanliness, which were prevalent in India till 1970s or 1980s before the advent of superior anti-microbial drugs.

"To that extent, he said, Indian physicians are better tuned to deal with infections and communicable diseases compared to most of the western physicians," the statement quoted him as having said.

The task ahead, now, is to focus on the preventive aspects and gear up for pandemic preparedness for all times, the minister said.

Singh also referred to the Ayushman Bharat as a unique health insurance scheme which could be further worked upon to become more extensive and inclusive.

A Muruganathan, governor of American College of Physicians (India chapter), who moderated the webinar, spoke about the need to popularize the use of Aarogya Setu App and focus on Indian models of prevention and subscription-based health insurance practised in some of the hospitals, particularly in South India.

Various suggestions that came from the participant doctors included the need to have less regulations on the private sector; urgent need to check unlicensed practitioners; doing away with avoidable procedures so that young medicos could be encouraged to set up medical clinics; promotion of PPP models, etc, the statement said.

PTI